Until September 28, the cloister of Fréjus Cathedral will host an exhibition dedicated to the photographic commissions of eight photographers and focusing on the roof structures and attics of state-owned cathedrals. (1)
Photography, Memory, and Heritage Conservation
When in 2023 the Centre des monuments nationaux (CMN) organized, at the request of the Ministry of Culture and in conjunction with the Médiathèque du patrimoine et de la photographie (MPP), a photographic campaign on the attics of cathedrals, it revived the spirit of the first commission given by an administration to photographers in 1851: the Heliographic Mission. Following the French Revolution, the notion of heritage and the need to preserve its memory emerged. Photography, which had officially seen the light of day in 1839, would quickly be considered unrivaled in reproducing reality. This is why the very young Commission des monuments historiques organized a photographic inventory of the main French monuments before their restoration. This is how architectural photography made its appearance and replaced drawing collections.
Following the fire that ravaged Notre-Dame de Paris, measures were decided to strengthen the security of the 87 cathedrals owned by the State, including the partitioning of attics to better control fires. An attic can be defined as the construction that surmounts a building and supports its roof. These works, some of which had already begun, would however modify the space, hence the need to preserve its memory. Following a consultation, eight photographers were selected and each assigned to the cathedrals located in the region(2). To best preserve the documentary accuracy of this last visual testimony before transformation, very specific shooting angles were requested, but the photographers were also given freedom to take images of their choice. On closer inspection, the two points of view are not so far apart: creating documents, however objective they may be, always remains the fruit of a construction.
Photographers at Work
The eight photographers chosen to work in the cathedral attics are professionals familiar with commissioned work, particularly in the fields of heritage and architecture. They regularly collaborate or work with institutions whose activities and documentary resources are not always well known. All felt it was a privilege to be able to enter these almost secret places and to be the last to see them in their entirety. Entering, often alone, these dark, dusty, and silent spaces was an impressive experience. As one of them put it, it was like entering the belly of a whale.
Only one day of work was planned per cathedral, and action had to be taken quickly. Moving around the space was often a sporting feat, and pinpointing the exact angles required for the shots was not without difficulty. Everyone worked with digital cameras, but large-format ones, mounted on tripods due to the exposure times of several seconds to several minutes to compensate for the sometimes total lack of light. Each had their own method for lighting the space: LEDs or flashlights used like paintbrushes to sweep away shadowy areas. Large perspective views became the precious memory of the spaces, close-ups transformed the tangle of roof trusses into geometric abstractions, and high and low-angle views revealed the skill of the builders’ hands. It was necessary to remain faithful to the commission, but each person was able to bring the intelligence of their vision to the documentary relevance of their camera.
Françoise Paviot
Exhibition Curator
The traveling exhibition will be presented after the Fréjus cloister at other monuments in the CMN network starting in 2026.
(2) All photographs are freely available on the Regards monument image bank (www.regards.monuments-nationaux.fr) and will gradually be integrated into the Open Heritage Platform (POP) of the Ministry of Culture (www.pop.culture.gouv.fr).
