L’Allegorie du patrimoine or The invention of the Historic Monument (&translated by Lauren M. O’Connell) by Françoise Choay

L’Allegorie du patrimoine or The invention of the Historic Monument (&translated by Lauren M. O’Connell) was written by Françoise Choay. She was born in 1925 in Paris, has been a historian of the theories and of the urban and architectural forms. She is an emeriti professor at the university of Paris I and VIII, also in Belgium, Italy and the United States of America. She is one of the most famous scholars of the contemporary school of thoughts with respect to landscapes and its links with built space (Wikipedia). In many of her books, she situates the description of the term “patrimony” through its history, through its distinct epochs, in order to criticize and analyze the current cult to the term “patrimony” and what it encompasses.

She has described this analysis and the patrimonial politics in her book Le Patrimoine en question, Anthologie pour un combat (Benoît de Sagazan). Choay chooses to fight against the current way the patrimony is being used for, indeed, her thought is that the contemporary globalization tends to turn the theme of patrimony into a critical asset for pure profit. In L’Allegorie du patrimoine, she defines the notion of patrimony through out several historical periods, starting from the antiquity to today’s time. Choay highlights the evolution of the studies of the patrimony, pointing up parallel practices such as restoration, conservation or reemployment.

[...] Moreover, this work is taken up by Choay in the book "Le Patrimoine en question, anthologie pour un combat.” So it seems that such work is essential for the author. However, it is true that Choay’s conclusion could not be as effective if she had not described the history of built patrimony in the first chapters and described all the thesis. It is exactly on this issue Choay insists all along the book. This characteristic of the vision we have on the past seems essential to build the future vision we need to have on the patrimony. [...]

[...] She even says: long as the notion of historic monument is established, the form and the expectations of the protector discourse are often borrowed by the politics seeking the destruction of this type of good.” A conservation founded on the distinction of the and “immeuble” The conservation at Quattrocento already uses the distinction of meuble or immeuble. The conservation of meubles seems simple, objects are conserved in what we call “studioli” then, in the cabinets of curiosity. In addition, the conservation of the edifices is even done on the site because passion of the collector is not mobilizable for their backup”. [...]

[...] CRITIC OF THE EVOLUTION OF THE TERM PATRIMONY IN TODAY’S TIME Choay starts her book with a semantic emphasize of the word patrimony which by Le Littré of 1863 means: “bien d’héritage qui descend suivant les lois, des pères et mères aux enfants” or “good of inheritance, which, according to the law, comes from fathers and mothers to the children.” (Juliette Delescluse) This concept is which brings her to focus on the historical patrimony, which she defines as: un fonds destiné à la jouissance d’une communauté élargie aux dimensions planétaires et constitué par l’accumulation continue d’une diversité d’objets que rassemble leur commune appartenance a passé This introduction allows Françoise Choay to argue in favor of her problematic which supports her chronological report which one is necessary to the understanding of today’s manners around the notion of patrimony. [...]