La restauration de l'Arc du Carrousel - Épisode 6 [ENG subtitles]

In this last episode on the restoration of the Carousel, we're going to show you the incredible sculpture of limestone. Michel Goutal, the architect in charge of the historical monuments, will guide you through the monument to show you the alterations the decor has undergone and all the work that has been done to preserve it. It's been about twenty years that we've been working on the state of degradation of the Arc de Triomphe. There was a first intervention, I would say, of purging, of security, and then today we're doing the background restoration. In the Arc, you have visible decor. You have low reliefs of the frieze, you also have low-relief sculptures on the surface of the vaults. The problem is that when you want to take a stone to sculpt it, you take it quite soft, with quite fine grains, and so they are particularly fragile elements. The most complex and the simplest at the same time is cleaning. What we used as a technique is the technique of micro-rubbing. It's sandblasting, but with a very small power and a very small nozzle. That way, it allows us to see exactly what we're doing, to go everywhere and not damage the stone, of course. When everything was bare, and we saw the initial colour, we discovered a lot of cracks and tears that were hidden by the abrasion. So, to avoid any water infiltration, especially in the limestone, which was very dry, we had to do hot infiltrations inside the cracks. We inject extremely liquid hot water, so that it can really go everywhere in the arteries. We're really doctors, so it can go everywhere and fill all the cracks. After this intervention, we have to consolidate, and we also have to join, because the goal after our intervention is that there is no more infiltration in the building. And the last intervention is the patina, harmonization, and also patina on elements of old cement restorations. They're very black, so we're going to harmonize them and give them the same colour as the stone. And we're going to patina them, always in the same way, with hot water, natural pigments, all in a minimum of three passes. On limestone bas-reliefs, you have cases that are slightly damaged, you have a few small defects, and then you have places where the degradation is very important, because there is a water flow, because there was metal behind, and at that point, you have to make stone inclusions that you re-sculpt. When there are stones that are really deteriorated, the architect decides to make a plug, and so we come and remove the deteriorated stone, and the stone workshop comes and installs a new block of dry stone. On the super-high bas-reliefs, these are groups of angelo in limestone. We intervene in sculpture to make a proposal for restoration. So this is the plaster modelling that was proposed to the architect. So I came to model it on the spot and then reproduce this proposal for restoration in the stone. So this is the step that I am doing, with the typical style of this building, also the sculptor's style, because each bas-relief is different, there is a different hand, and that is also the complexity of this work. It is not the same treatment from one bas-relief to the other. So here we are under the main arch, and the whole of this surface is covered with sculpture. The problem is that on top of this vault, you have the roof of the arch, which has had leaks, and the arch is mounted with plaster, like many buildings on the right bank of the Paris River, and the plaster plus the water, it doesn't do the stone well. That's what happened, so we have a lot of sculpted elements that have suffered. Sometimes you can't see them, but they are so fragile that you can barely touch them, and so there will be consolidations for some elements, grafts in others, we will bring back the stone and we will re-sculpt it, and then re-grafting for others, which are slightly bent, but not too much, and then there are those that still have their shape, but which will be consolidated. The old plan was there, it was really degraded, there were cracks everywhere, and it wasn't waterproof, there were leaks inside, and it leaked all the way down, and we intervened to restore the roof and start from scratch. The chennault goes around the roof. When we have put the scaffolding in lead, the chennault actually allows us to recover the rainwater, which can be evacuated in the drains, and it allows us to recover all the water. In general, a roof can last up to 100 years, but everything also depends on the temperature, everything depends on how it was worked, but in general it can last up to 100 years. After several years of waiting, the restoration of the carousel arch is finally complete. The arch has found its superb polychromy, diversified between the whiteness of the marble, of the sparkling statues, the limestone of the stones that are cut on the blue background, and the golden bronze of the quadrige sparkles under the Parisian sun. This beautiful human adventure, which has mobilized many talents, allows the arch to enter a new age and to find a new place in the field of Louvre and Tuileries.