Articles by François Fouriaux

During the restoration work conducted on the original decoration in the heart of the cathedral of Chartres, the archaeological service of the city of Chartres conducted a series of surveys and made a study of the evidence left from the various phases of construction. A general overview of the masonry (vaults, high windows, and triforium) was completed by means of a research project and precise survey of the location of the putlog holes and the holes in the vault. From the detailed manual survey it was possible to create a complete three dimensional topographical plan and thanks to this data, to create a precise model of those parts of the cathedral showing the irregularities in construction like the width of the bays, the height of the vaults, the diameters of the rosettes, the height of the lancet windows. This set of information was georeferenced and compared to the architectural plan that had been drawn by J.-B.-A. Lassus (1807-1857) and published in 1842. This method allowed us to define and correct this latter document which turned out to be more a stylistic analysis than a precise topographical survey. The final report on this operation has not yet been completed but in this article we are offering a presentation of the methodology applied and the first results.