French architect, famous for his restorations of medieval buildings.
In the early 1830's, a movement for the restoration of medieval buildings appeared in France. Viollet le Duc, returning from a study trip to Italy, was ordered by [[Prosper Merimée]] to restore Vezelay? abbey. This work marked the beginning of a long series of restorations.
Among his restorations, we can find :
Viollet-le-Duc also applied the lessons of Gothic architecture, especially what he conceived of its structural systems, to modern building materials such as cast iron. He practiced as archaeologically precise (for his time) a style of restoration as he could manage, but his own designs were remarkably innovative. His approach to both medieval and modern architecture was severely rational, in keeping with his own unsentimental appreciation of the Gothic achievement.
Throughout his career he also kept taking notes and drawings, not only on the buildings he was working on, but also on Roman, Gothic and Renaissance buildings that were to be soon demolished. His study of medieval and renaissance period was not limited to architecture, but extended to furniture, clothing, musical instruments, armament ... All this work was published, first in serial, and then as full-scale books, as : - the Dictionnary of French Architecture from 10th to 15th Century (1854-1868) (Dictionnaire raisonné de l'architecture française du XIe au XVe siècle) - the Dictionnary of French Furnishings (1858-1870) (Dictionnaire raisonné du mobilier français de l'époque Carolingienne à la Renaissance.)
Viollet-le-Duc systematized his approach to architecture and architectural education in the Entretiens sur l'architecture ( in 2 volumes, 185872), Discourses on Architecture.
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