Bronze Medal 1896 Basilique Notre-Dame de Fourvière Consecration Vows

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View Bronze Medal 1896 Basilique Notre-Dame de Fourvière Consecration Vows with current marketplace pricing, condition, product images and item details. Pierre Bossan, for his part, enjoyed early success in architecture. A stonemason under the guidance of his father, then a student of Antoine-Marie Chenavard, he excelled in his studies. The death of his father on February 22, 1839 forced him to leave Paris to return to work in Lyon and support his family there. He quickly made a name for himself in religious architecture, and worked in particular on the large restoration project of the primatial church, for which he was appointed architect in 1840. But, in 1845, convinced by his brother Joseph, he invested in a financial company operating gas lighting, and abandoned the Saint-Jean restoration project, which was entirely taken care of by Tony Desjardins. Joseph Bossan, mining engineer, obtained for his brother the award of the Alès factory;. img{max-width:100%} _ 319-tir104 Bronze medal, France, Lyon, rare large module example. Struck in 1896 for the consecration of the Basilica into a Church, the reverse recalls the wishes of 1643 during the events of the Plague. Some traces of handling and small shocks, some patina defects, the golden patina is still beautiful and old without cleaning. Engraver / Artist / Sculptor : Bonnassieux (drawing) and Dufraine (engraving) . Dimensions : 60mm. Weight : 109 g. Metal : bronze with golden patina. Hallmark on the edge (mark on the edge) : No hallmark. Fast and careful shipping. 319-tir104 THE easel is not has sell . The stand is not for sale. - Year of minting: Towards 1896 (medal of commemoration and consecration). Matter : Gilded bronze . Authors: Bonnassieux (drawing) and Dufraine (engraving), famous duo from the Lyon school. Subject : Two-sided medal linking the two great episodes of Marian worship in Lyon. One represents the Wish of the Aldermen during the plague of 1643 (procession before the Virgin), the other represents the Basilica of Fourvière (1870 project) with the allegory of the city. Theme : Religion, History of France, Medicine (Plague), Architecture. History : This object is a unique historical synthesis. It links the promise made by the notables of Lyon in the 17th century to stop the plague epidemic to the monumental construction of the basilica after the war of 1870. The Notre-Dame de Fourvière basilica has overlooked the city of Lyon at the top of Fourvière hill since the end of the 19th century. It is built approximately on the site of Trajan's ancient forum, Forum vetus[note 1]. On this site, a cult was established in the middle of the Middle Ages to Saint Thomas of Canterbury then, quickly, to the Virgin Mary. This dual cult came to fruition with the construction from 1630 of a place of devotion, the Saint-Thomas chapel in Lyon. Following a wish made in 1642 by the aldermen of Lyon to keep an epidemic of plague away from the city, an annual pilgrimage was formed. In the 19th century, at the initiative of Cardinal Louis-Jacques-Maurice de Bonald, a golden statue of Mary was erected on the bell tower of the chapel, which was raised and reinforced for this occasion. At the same time, the proposal to build a basilica, both to accommodate increasing numbers of visitors and in gratitude for the protection of Lyon during the Franco-Prussian War of 1870, was accepted; its construction began in 1872. The architecture of the basilica, in neo-Byzantine style, is the work of Pierre Bossan, who, obliged to supervise the construction site from afar for health reasons, delegated a large part of the execution of the work to Louis Sainte-Marie Perrin. The very particular architecture of the building has earned it many admirers, but also very strong criticism. Property of the Fourvière commission and not of the archbishopric since its foundation, the basilica is therefore not affected by the law of 1905 and remains private property, in particular thanks to the diplomacy of mayor Édouard Herriot, less anticlerical than his predecessor Jean-Victor Augagneur. However, despite this status, at the end of the 20th century the basilica obtained official recognition of its status as a Lyon monument. The building was listed in the supplementary inventory of historic monuments on September 26, 1977; then it was recognized as being of public utility on October 15, 1998, just before its inclusion in the world heritage list on December 5 of the same year, as the historic site of Lyon. Finally, on March 25, 2014, it was classified as a historic monument. The basilica constitutes one of the most visible landmarks of the city, and one of the symbols of the city of Lyon. It gives Lyon its status as a “Marian city”. Around two million pilgrims and tourists are welcomed each year in the basilica. The basilica complex includes not only the building, the Saint-Thomas chapel and the statue, but also the panoramic esplanade and the Rosary garden. Historical Before the basilica: the Saint-Thomas chapel Detailed article: Chapelle Saint-Thomas de Lyon. Watercolor representing a small church. The Fourvière chapel at the beginning of the 19th century. A medieval building In 1168, on the ruins of the Roman forum, a chapel was built in Fourvière by Olivier de Chavannes, a canon of Saint-Jean. The small chapel, built “apud forum Veneris[note 2]”, is dedicated first to Saint Thomas then to the Virgin. It is richly endowed, and entrusted to the chapter of Saint-Jean which serves it. Faced with this scourge, the aldermen of the consulate appealed to the Virgin, probably at the inspiration of the provost of merchants Alexandre de Mascrany. On April 5, 1642, a wish was decided: a procession to Notre-Dame would take place two days later towards Fourvière, in order to implore deliverance from the plague. This pilgrimage having taken place, it was chosen to perpetuate it annually. On March 12, 1643, a vote of the same assembly dedicated the entire city to Mary, and ratified an annual pilgrimage, placed on September 8, the day of the Nativity of Mary[D 2]. Redesigns of the chapel in the 17th and 18th centuries The Black Madonna. The chapel was remodeled in the 17th and 18th centuries. The walls of the two naves are covered with ex-votos painted on canvas. A statue of the virgin carrying the child Jesus in her arms is installed on the main altar. This statue carved from pear wood which darkens due to external agents (humidity, temporary burial during the Revolution), is the subject of a cult of the Black Madonna known locally as Notre-Dame de Bon Conseil[7]. The statue of Mary Plans and elevations drawn in pencil of a bell tower surmounted by a statue of Mary. Plans and elevations of the raised bell tower surmounted by the statue of Mary. Virgin (1852), Lyon, Notre-Dame de Fourvière basilica. In the middle of the 19th century, the church of Fourvière threatened to fall into ruin. Observations made by André Flachéron reveal in particular the dilapidated state of the old bell tower. The replacement of this building was entrusted to the diocesan architect Alphonse-Constance Duboys, and began in August 1849. This square-based bell tower retains a medieval first floor, topped by two floors dating from 1849; the third floor is octagonal in plan, and ends in a dome. On the latter was placed in 1852 a statue of the Virgin made by Joseph-Hugues Fabisch[D 3],[D 4], the construction of which was authorized in 1851 by Cardinal Louis-Jacques-Maurice de Bonald. It is a statue measuring 5.60 meters and weighing more than 3 tons, located at an altitude of more than 300 meters. The feast was postponed to December 8, the date (then not officially approved) of the feast of the Immaculate Conception, a dogma which would be proclaimed two years later by Pius IX. Due to the bad weather at the beginning of December, a postponement to the 12th of the month is considered; but the sky cleared during the afternoon of the 8th. As a sign of piety, the Lyonnais light candles and place them on the window sills: this is the birth of the Festival of Lights[D 5]. The decision to build a sanctuary The initial freeze of any project In the middle of the 19th century, with increasing numbers of pilgrims coming to Fourvière which then benefited from an influx of donations in kind or alms, the project to expand the sanctuary took shape. The revival of pilgrimages in the context of sacral recharging, favored by popular piety and the pious imagery of La Guillotière in Lyon[9] in its different forms (lithographs, photographs, statues, paintings, etc.), is such that the pilgrimage to Fourvière is more important than that to Marseille (the figure of 1.3 million annual pilgrims was put forward in 1858 by Abbé Bouillard, author of a monograph on Notre-Dame de Fourvière)[10]. To purchase the necessary land, Louis-Jacques-Maurice de Bonald created the Fourvière commission in 1850, an association of lay Catholics[note 3]. Its first goal is not the construction of a new building, but on the contrary the preservation of the hill in its then state. The objectives entrusted to him (letter from the archbishop to the clergy, January 10, 1853) are to free the chapel from "its mediocre environment", to "prevent by practical means [...] from erecting new constructions on the mountain of Fourvière, to stop those which are in the process of being carried out and to modify those which are completed"[D 6]. The personal evolution of Pierre Bossan Detailed article: Pierre Bossan. Black and white photograph of a bearded man posing standing with his left hand on his stomach. Pierre Bossan. Pierre Bossan, for his part, enjoyed early success in architecture. A stonemason under the guidance of his father, then a student of Antoine-Marie Chenavard, he excelled in his studies. The death of his father on February 22, 1839 forced him to leave Paris to return to work in Lyon and support his family there. He quickly made a name for himself in religious architecture, and worked in particular on the large restoration project of the primatial church, for which he was appointed architect in 1840. But, in 1845, convinced by his brother Joseph, he invested in a financial company operating gas lighting, and abandoned the Saint-Jean restoration project, which was entirely taken care of by Tony Desjardins. Joseph Bossan, mining engineer, obtained for his brother the award of the Alès factory; the latter neglected the site, and the company went bankrupt in December 1846. In March 1847, the architect's creditors forced him to flee to Italy, where, except on rare occasions, he remained until the early 1850s. This period was particularly difficult for him: first, his brother Joseph, present with him in Palermo during the Sicilian Revolution and the siege of the city, died there in the arms of Peter, from an epidemic. Then, the architect's mother died in 1850. He himself ended up returning to Lyon, where he opened an architecture agency and lived very modestly. On January 31, 1850, Marie-Eugénie Mauchand was born, who is in all likelihood his illegitimate daughter. If this secret were to become known, the architect would have to give up his career as a church builder. Also the child's mother, Marguerite-Henriette Mauchand, chose to marry Jean-François Guépratte, so as not to discredit Bossan[D 7]. Around May 28, 1853, Pierre Bossan experienced a radical conversion the day he met the priest of Ars. Three weeks earlier, on May 6, the project manager for the expansion of the small Saint-Thomas church, Alphonse Duboys, died suddenly at the age of twenty-eight. Many friends of Bossan[note 4], taking advantage of the opportunity, tried to put pressure on Cardinal Louis-Jacques-Maurice de Bonald to encourage him to build the basilica on the hill[D 8]. The project of a basilica Black and white engraving of the basilica, smaller than today (Mary's bell tower dominates it). The first representation of the basilica project, in 1856. Black and white engraving of the north facade, coupled with a high bell tower serving as a pedestal for the statue. Unrealized proposal for a raised bell tower, on the north facade, for the statue of Mary. On March 7, 1853, a second Fourvière commission was created, with the aim of developing “an initiatory journey which elevates the soul as much as the body and prepares them for the Meeting”[D 6]. However, it was not until 1866 that the Commission and the ecclesiastical authorities agreed on a project not of expansion but of construction of a new church. Pierre Bossan was authorized by the Commission to reveal, on April 30, 1856, a view of the future basilica, the plans of which were sketched before 1850 and gradually reworked, particularly after the architect discovered Sicilian architecture. This publication, which earned Pierre Bossan two hundred francs, and whose scale had been distorted so that the statue of Mary dominated the basilica, aroused a mixed reaction, especially since the expected cost of the building amounted to two million francs. Nevertheless, on April 25, the commission approved the project; more unexpectedly[note 5], Cardinal de Bonald as well. Finally, even if his agreement is not essential, the prefect and mayor of Lyon, Claude-Marius Vaïsse, is also complimentary of the project[D 9]. The commission decided on June 2, 1858 to send Pierre Bossan to spend five months in Rome in order to concentrate on completing the plans. He spent two years there, in 1859 and 1860; This work is invoiced to him two hundred francs the first year, five hundred the second. In 1866, Claude Louis Morel de Voleine noticed when reading the plans and elevations that the golden virgin of Fabisch was lower than the new bell towers. To counter the criticism, Pierre Bossan and Frédéric Giniez proposed the construction of a very high bell tower, part of the northern extension of the second bay of the nave, which would accommodate the statue of Mary. This project was quickly abandoned, but opponents remained resentful of the new building[D 10]. During this design phase, the Commission did not remain inactive and fought for the acquisition of the land necessary for the creation of the Rosary gardens. At that time, the path providing access to the hill from Vieux Lyon was owned by Pauline Jaricot, and the money that her (very modest) toll brought in was given to the poorest. The donation policy is such that the donor is heavily in debt, to the tune of around four hundred thousand francs. The Commission, allying itself with the Primatiale factory and the creditors of Pauline Jaricot, sued the latter, a suit which it won but which was of no use to it because the Commission had acquired the neighboring land and built another access road. Tired of war, Pauline Jaricot, ruined, abandoned her land and burned her archives to prevent them from constituting a document against the Commission[D 9]. Just after 1870, many circumstances radically changed the situation: the main one was the vow of October 8, 1870, which placed Lyon, threatened during the war of 1870, under the protection of Mary. In fact, victorious at the first battle of Dijon on October 30, the Prussians were defeated in the second, notably thanks to Giuseppe Garibaldi and his volunteers. The Saône valley was spared by German troops, and Lyon was saved. On the other hand, the Municipality of Lyon failed, faced with the takeover of the city by the National Guard. The city, still traumatized by the uprising in Lyon against the National Convention and the bloody reprisals carried out during the siege of Lyon in 1793, was relieved. The basilica project, carried until then by a minority, became a popular and diocesan enterprise, part of a tradition of fulfilled wishes[D 11]. Furthermore, Cardinal Bonald, who had never been completely committed to the cause of the basilica, died that same year, and was replaced by Jacques Ginoulhiac, instigator of the wish. Several owners of land adjacent to the project also died in 1870. Finally, in 1873, the architect of the city of Lyon, Claude-Anthelme Benoit, quite hostile to the project, retired to Cannes due to illness. All these hazards suddenly decided the next construction of the basilica imagined by Bossan. The latter, seeing his wish come true while he himself had to retire for health reasons to La Ciotat, was frightened to see the realization of a project that he had been carrying out for thirty years. But even though he is far from the site, he faithfully monitors its execution[D 11]. The construction Pierre Bossan demands a daily report on the site from his deputy Louis Sainte-Marie Perrin. This correspondence, preserved, allows historians to know in detail the progress of the site, as well as numerous design or programming elements[D 12]. Financing The two architects share equally remuneration corresponding to 6% of the costs incurred on the project. This sum thus corresponds to 11,698 francs in 1873, 12,937 in 1879 and 6,391.08 in 1888. Sculptors on scaffolding earn between 40 and 90 cents per hour[D 13]. Funding is largely provided by popular subscription. But Paul Brac de la Perrière, responsible for negotiations between the Commission and Bossan, tried to limit the estimate to one and a half million francs. For his part, Jacques Ginoulhiac sets a limit of 1,800,000 francs maximum. A wasted effort, because the success of the initial subscription (800,000 francs received before the wish, thanks to the activism of Joannès Blanchon, then another 500,000 in 1872) encouraged the sponsors to be less careful with excess fees. However, the project is reduced by a twentieth in all its dimensions, which reduces the total volume by more than 14%. The estimate finally presented to the archbishop amounts to 1,720,000 francs. In 1896, upon completion of the project, the sum spent amounted to more than ten million francs, with part of the interior and exterior decoration still remaining to be completed[D 13],[D 14]. Foundations and choice of materials Black and white engraving showing a crowd gathered in a vast excavation around a construction site. In the background, the statue on its bell tower. The laying of the first stone of the Fourvière basilica, December 7, 1872; engraving published in “La Semaine Illustrée”. The biggest technical problem with the foundations is the poor quality of the subsoil. As a preamble, the instability of the land is such that the planned basilica must be moved back three meters compared to the initial project, which attenuates the overhanging effect from which the building enjoys in the Lyon sky (and even less so since the proportions are smaller than those originally planned). Then, the subsoil is made up of moraine deposits made by Alpine glaciers during the Quaternary glaciations, placed on a base made of sandy clay, which is streaked with networks dating in part from Antiquity[D 13]. The underground networks are partly vaulted, at least to a depth of eighteen meters, and cisterns are created to drain the groundwater. The first stone, which Joannès Blanchon, president of the Commission, had blessed by Pius IX in 1869, was laid at the bottom of the twenty-two meter deep foundations on November 8, 1872. Around twenty meters of concrete are planned to support the towers, eight meters for the apse and four to five meters for the floor of the crypt[D 15]. The Lyon subsoil, composed of gneiss and granite, is of poor quality for construction. Just like the ancient and medieval builders of Lyon's monuments, Bossan and Louis Sainte-Marie Perrin had to choose materials from elsewhere. The color of the stones, in architectural symbolism, is as important as their mechanical characteristics[D 16]. The choice of material used for the bases - which constitutes the second most used by volume - is choins coming from the Hauteville-Lompnes quarry because these, white in color, recall the virginity of Mary. The most abundant material (around 5,000 m3) is that used for the superstructure, limestone known as “Pierre du Midi”. Also white in color, it is particularly suitable for sculpture. Finally, around 825 m3 of travertine (or tuff) from Bugey are used to build the vaults, but are invisible, hidden under the mosaics[D 16]. For the column pedestals, local granite is used. The 58 exterior columns themselves are made of granite or porphyry. The sixteen columns supporting the nave, after much hesitation, were made from blue marble from the Étroit du Siaix quarry. They measure twenty-seven meters in height[D 16],[D 17]. Each of the four columns supporting the main facade weighs fifteen tons and cost 12,500 francs[D 18]. The superstructure Black and white photograph showing a group of workers in front of a large, heavily propped-up trench. Woodwork to support the apse. Photograph of the basilica seen from the northeast. The building is under construction, the frame being installed. The Fourvière basilica under construction in 1875. The walls are finished, the metal frame is being installed. Construction, as in the Middle Ages, begins with the construction of the sanctuary (choir and apse). This primacy has liturgical reasons (making the building available for worship as quickly as possible), but also technical reasons, the choir being the only part of the church which is not placed on the plateau itself. Very quickly, at the suggestion of Joannès Blanchon, the apse was equipped with its two galleries. The lower, vaulted gallery is bordered by the glass roofs of the “lower” church called the “crypt”, dedicated to Joseph; the upper gallery is in the open air, and on one level with the choir of the upper Marian church[D 19], “from shadow to light”. The frame of the church, initially planned in oak, was replaced in the project, from 1874, by a metal frame, lighter, and allowing the installation of a slate roof, cheaper than metal (six francs per square meter, compared to twenty-five). The 1,650 slates were ordered to measure from Ardoisières de Trélazé in Angers[D 20]. Square, they measure 1.05 meters on each side[D 21]. The ridge is made of Volvic stone, sculpted in “light serrations” by Joannis Rey (1850–1919)[D 20]. The installation of the statue of the Archangel Michael at the top of the basilica provokes a new wave of criticism. In the mind of Pierre Bossan, “the archangel is a figure of the Holy Virgin”. But it must be recognized that the architect, obsessed with his basilica, took little account of the pre-existing chapel and the statue of the Virgin. However, the people of Lyon as a whole are very attached to the statue and the cult of Mary. The criticisms addressed to the statue of Saint Michael are legion. The most acerbic (who remain anonymous) believe that “this idea only comes and can only come from a happy Masonic suggestion to dethrone Mary, in addition the spotlight is given to Satan, proud to dominate with his hideous figure”. A caricature from May 13, 1882 shows Guignol explaining to Gnafron that it is necessary to destroy “this wedding cake that Mariette was blocking from us”; the new church is still described as a “mast of plenty” in La Décentralisation of July 6, 1881. The common criticism is therefore that the building steals first place from Mary by putting in her place a figure who is not part of popular Lyon devotion. Le Courrier de Lyon even estimates that “the architect's idea is to demolish [the old building and the statue], we will succeed”[D 22]. Listening to these criticisms, several Lyonnais supporting the project proposed accommodations: Joannès Blanchon suggested the construction of a large column supporting the Virgin by Joseph-Hugues Fabisch; Archbishop Louis-Marie Caverot proposed the construction, at the junction of the two sanctuaries, of another tower (the price of which was estimated at 200,000 francs). Bossan flatly refuses, recognizing that this refusal is due in part to personal pride: “It is admitting that we have not thought about it and condemning ourselves by undoing at great cost what we ourselves have done.” He again proposed connecting solutions (creation of a bell tower located to the north, on a chapel dedicated to the Sacré-Cœur, remodeling of the Duboys bell tower, construction of a campanile) none of which was carried out[D 22]. In 1884, Louis-Marie Caverot, appointed eight years earlier to the archbishopric of Lyon, realized the extent of Pierre Bossan's iconographic program, and especially the theological and liturgical implications that would result from the adoption of the entirety of this program, almost exclusively focused on Mary to the detriment of Jesus. On September 20, 1884, he appointed Father Jacquier, an expert liturgist, at the head of a commission responsible for negotiating with the two architects. If the negotiations with Louis Sainte-Marie Perrin were quite successful, Bossan showed himself to be inflexible[note 6]. The main problem concerns the naming of the altars, which should not be up to the architect; more secondarily, liturgists find problematic the dedication of chapels to the mysteries rather than to the saints, as well as the preference given to certain episodes in the life of Jesus and exploited by the Jansenists. Everything works out in the end. On the one hand, a connection is established between the Marian cycle of the altars of Fourvière and those of Sainte-Marie-Majeure or Minerva. On the other hand, the archbishop appealed to Pope Leo XIII, and he allowed a diplomatic settlement of the crisis[D 23]. Inauguration and incompletion Color photograph of an aviform, but as yet uncarved, limestone block. One of the statues planned by Pierre Bossan, and not realized: a dove, representing the Holy Spirit, above the Lions' Gate, at the level of the apse. On June 16, 1896, the building was dedicated as a church. The only living member of the 1853 Commission, Joannès Blanchon, is present[D 24]. On March 16, 1897, Leo XIII erected Notre-Dame de Fourvière as a minor basilica[D 25]. However, the basilica is still unfinished, in particular with regard to the ambitious iconographic program dreamed of by Pierre Bossan. Thus, in many locations (keystones, corbels, etc.), the raw blocks have been placed, but are not sculpted[D 26]. As for the mosaics representing the heresies, located at the foot of the main altar of the upper church, they were hastily finished the night before the inauguration[D 27]. In 1920, Jean-Baptiste Larrivé proposed a project for the upper church for a pulpit decorated with characters dressed in contemporary costumes. However, the Fourvière commission refused this project and the sculptor had to present a new program in 1924[13]. Restoration work Color photograph of the statue of Mary, up close and from a low angle, under a glass cage. The statue of Mary taken down from the bell tower during the work in 2008. Low-angle photograph of the square slates of the roof. The new coverage slates. Color photograph of the nave lit by the six chandeliers. The nave of the church restored and lit by new chandeliers. As early as 1913, Louis Sainte-Marie Perrin noticed that the masonry of the building was acting. This diagnosis was confirmed in 1919 when the executing architect brought an engineer on site. But these first observations were not followed by work. The basilica waited almost a century before falling tesserae from the vault mosaics as well as the general condition of the pediment justified the launch of emergency work in November 2006[D 28]. The lantern tower supporting the statue of Marie, also identified as fragile in 1923, was immediately consolidated with reinforced concrete ribs, under the supervision of Sainte-Marie Perrin and the engineer Mauvernay. But the condition of the tower was nonetheless poor in 2006: the concrete ribs were cracked, the metal ribs were oxidized, the lower surface of the dome was crumbling and the staircase was split. This damage can be attributed to the aging of the structures, which accelerated in particular under the effect of storm Martin. On the advice of the engineer Bernard Babinot, the bronze statue, which had been gilded in 1991, was placed on the square from May 27 to November 20, 2008, the time to reinforce the structures, replace the degraded stones of the bell tower (balconies, cords, cornices, bay supports), protect the protruding elements under lead covers, clean the facades, renew the joinery and locksmithing and install new lighting. In the meantime, the removed statue, protected under a glass shelter, is also the subject of restoration: replacement of bolts and guardrails, and reinforcement of the base[D 29]. The first large-scale restorations on the basilica itself concerned the northeast bell tower, known as the Prudence Tower, or the Observatory. This tower, which houses an orientation table for the public, is structured by a metal frame ensuring the transfer of loads from the slabs to the load-bearing walls. These beams slowly oxidized until towards the end of the 20th century, when a resealing suddenly confined them, accelerating their deterioration. Furthermore, the use of the building's spiers as antennas since 1990 had created a waterproofing defect which had led to oxidation of the staircase, also metallic. In 2006, access to the tower was prohibited. The project was only launched in 2009, giving time to analyze the causes of the alterations and plan the necessary work. A suspended scaffolding is attached to the tower; the original frame is completely removed and replaced; natural ventilation is created to prevent the accumulation of humidity. The degraded decorations are restored and the tourist facilities are better highlighted[D 30]. The next concern concerns the waterproofing of the slates forming the roof, which caused in 1913 “a withdrawal from the south side of the roof irons” (Louis Sainte-Marie Perrin). When the first damage is noticed, monitoring is carried out, but without any particular concern. Angles were put in place to reinforce the rafters, but the disjointedness worsened in 1919 and 1931, causing cracks. In 2007, the report carried out showed a serious waterproofing defect which led to the presence of water even on the vaults, cracking them. The cause of the damage is twofold: on the one hand the black slates accumulate an enormous quantity of heat, overheating the attic of the building during the day and thus increasing the expansion of the frame. On the other hand, the slates are too small and the covering is insufficient to provide a waterproof cover. As the Trélazé deposits were no longer operational, those of Ortigueira, in Galicia, were called upon to supply slates measuring 1.15 × 1.15 m2, now sufficient to prevent infiltration[D 21]. The general condition of the statue of the Archangel Saint Michael was then examined in 2010. The exterior appearance does not reveal any particular damage, but an endoscopy of the statue shows galvanic corrosion of the central steel pole at the copper and iron contact point. A phosphate-based insulation is sprayed, then an epoxy paint applied to the metal elements to prevent contact[D 31]. Finally, the various infiltrations damaged or soiled the decorations of the basilica's vaults. A general diagnosis was undertaken in 2008, revealing that the expansions of the metal framework had caused the vaults to work, creating cracks; the mosaics have suffered detachments, alterations to the mortars, etc. The presence of water only made everything worse, dirtying and blackening the decorations[D 32]. To carry out the decoration restoration project, a raised floor was installed at a height of sixteen meters in the upper church[D 33]; this structure weighs approximately one hundred and fifty tons[14]. Michel Patrizio's team of mosaic artists worked there throughout 2012. The work begins with a cartographic examination of the entire surface. The interior work is then carried out in two stages. Emergency consolidation is first carried out, including filling the cracks by injecting lime grout. The injection is carried out with a syringe under the mosaic or mortar. Secondly, a complete renovation of the decorations is undertaken. These were initially hung by iron nails, which rusted. Excessively damaged areas are completely peeled off and placed on a canvas. The back of the mosaic can then be treated, then the restored decoration is reapplied. The presence of the raised floor, supplemented by mobile scaffolding, makes it possible to treat the other decorative elements in passing, in particular the blackened statues, initially painted with bronzine, and gilded with leaf during the restorations[D 33],[D 32]. On this occasion, the enhancement of the interior of the building through lighting is completely revised. It had never been the subject of a design, Pierre Bossan having died before the industrial application of electricity. A long study was therefore carried out in 2013, leading to the installation of only six chandeliers (two per bay). This makes it possible to bring together multiple sources (twenty-nine LED sources in each piece of equipment) in a minimum number of points, to limit the length of cable deployed, to avoid any additional drilling in the vaults, and finally, to optimize maintenance. These brass chandeliers weigh 490 kilograms and require two hundred and fifty hours of work each; their lifting system is motorized. Their appearance was the subject of particular study, to make them resemble old chandeliers[D 34],[15]. All the work lasting from 2006 to 2013 is estimated at 7.6 million euros, 59% financed by the communities (State, city of Lyon, Rhône departmental council and DRAC Rhône-Alpes), the rest being by donations from the faithful. Of this sum, 5.2 million euros are allocated to the basilica, the rest to its environment (Saint-Thomas chapel, statue, surroundings)[14]. In 2023, a poor condition of the towers was diagnosed, hence a call for donations for a restoration project[16]. Protection The basilica belongs to the perimeter of Old Lyon, listed as a UNESCO world heritage site in 1998[3]. In addition to this status which is not specific to it, the basilica was classified as a historic monument on March 25, 2014[2]. This classification concerns the entire building of the basilica in its entirety, but also: the Saint-Thomas chapel and the intermediate buildings; the facades and roofs of the old tower of the astronomical observatory, of the house housing the museum as well as its courtyard and its entire old chapel; the square and the esplanade, with their fence and all their masonry elements, the facades and roofs of the Chaplains' house (except restaurant); finally the Rosary Garden in its entirety[1]. Special status The Fourvière basilica enjoys a special status among French religious buildings. During its construction, its singularity was not to be ecclesial property, but the property of all its donors, through the Fourvière Commission. Symbolically, the basilica thus belongs to all the people of Lyon. The emphasis on the role of the laity in the Catholic Church was thus proposed from the middle of the 19th century, and a century before the Second Vatican Council, which particularly insisted on this point, notably through the publication of the apostolic constitution Lumen Gentium[D 35]. The paradox is that this theological modernity is proposed by the members of the Fourvière Commission, who are rather to be placed in the current of intransigent Catholicism[D 36]. At the turn of the 20th century, just before the promulgation of the law separating Churches and State, the mayor of Lyon Jean-Victor Augagneur, very anticlerical, wanted to close Fourvière, supported by his municipal council, “this citadel of superstition and religious exploitation”[17]. The Free Thought Federation estimated in 2011 that the subsidies granted by the city of Lyon, subsidies aimed at Pierre Bossan, for his part, enjoyed early success in architecture. A stonemason under the guidance of his father, then a student of Antoine-Marie Chenavard, he excelled in his studies. The death of his father on February 22, 1839 forced him to leave Paris to return to work in Lyon and support his family there. He quickly made a name for himself in religious architecture, and worked in particular on the large restoration project of the primatial church, for which he was appointed architect in 1840. But, in 1845, convinced by his brother Joseph, he invested in a financial company operating gas lighting, and abandoned the Saint-Jean restoration project, which was entirely taken care of by Tony Desjardins. Joseph Bossan, mining engineer, obtained for his brother the award of the Alès factory; Category: Coins & Paper Money › Exonumia › Medals.

Type

Medals french

Country of Origin

France

Composition

Bronze