Centenary of the law of 1913
The Historical Monuments Act was promulgated on 31 December 1913. A synthesis of previous laws, it forms the basis for the protection and conservation of monumental and movable heritage.
« There are two things in a building: its use and its beauty. Its use belongs to the owner, its beauty to everyone (...)
And a law for monumens (sic), a law for art, a law for the nationality of France, a law for memories, a law for cathedrals, a law for the greatest products of human intelligence, a law for the collective work of our fathers, a law for history, a law for the irreparable that is destroyed, a law for what a nation has most sacred after the future, a law for the past, this just, good, excellent, holy, useful, necessary, indispensable, urgent law, we don’t have time, we won’t do it! »
Victor Hugo, War on Demolition! 1832
“On the contrary, it is this right of property that we intend to safeguard for the future, while at the same time ensuring the kind of ideal right of co-ownership that the entire nation exercises on listed monuments where an important moment in its genius or history is reflected.”
1st report of April 11, 1911 made on behalf of the Commission de l'enseignement et des beaux-arts charged with examining the bill on the conservation of monuments and objects of historical or artistic interest by Théodore Reinach (1860-1928), MP for Savoie from 1906 to 1914.
The Commission des monuments historiques was created in 1837, but France adopted legislation only with the Law of 30 March 1887 on the conservation of monuments and works of art of interest historical and artistic. Drawing the consequences of the defects of this first law and the effects of the Law of 9 December 1905 on the separation of Churches and the State, a new project, in gestation since 1907 within the Sub-Secretariat of State for Fine Arts, is presented to the Chamber of Deputies on November 11, 1910 by Aristide Briand, President of the Council, Minister of Interior and Religious Affairs and Maurice Faure, Minister of Education and Fine Arts. Adopted by the Chamber of Deputies on 20 November 1913 on the report of Théodore Reinach, Member of Parliament for Savoy and by the Senate on 29 December 1913, the Law on Historical Monuments was signed on 31 December 1913 by Raymond Poincaré, President of the Republic, René Viviani, the new Minister of Education and Fine Arts and René Renoult, the Minister of the Interior.
This law, one of the oldest in this field in the world and often taken as a model, was little transformed until it was incorporated in the Heritage Code in February 2004 and in the Ordinance of 8 September 2005 on historical monuments and protected spaces. Maintaining a subtle balance between respect for the right to property and the general interest, it governs all the provisions relating to the protection and conservation of the French monumental heritage, whether buildings, movable objects or organs.
Here are listed the various events that take place throughout this year 2013 to celebrate the centenary of this law which constitutes the foundation of the French heritage legislation. This anniversary is the occasion for a reflection on its reception, its evolution, and its current meaning, in a field considerably expanded in recent decades. All the actors are mobilized: associations of owners, academics, elected officials, architects and all the personnel of the «service of historical monuments» in the regional directorates of Cultural Affairs and the general directorate of Heritage.
Several events aim to present national or regional reviews highlighting the evolution of the protection criteria chronologically extended to the heritage of the XIXe and XXe centuries and, thematically, the industrial, scientific or technical heritage. The 1913 act and its application evolved at the same time as the French vision of their cultural heritage evolved.
The monumental review devotes part of its 2e 2013 edition to the centenary of the law of 1913 focusing on demonstrating the evolution of the policy of protection, the evolution of the techniques of restoration, in the permanent concern to maintain and transmit the knowledgeto make and develop research in the field of conservation-restoration. The centennial celebration is illustrated through a selection of recent operations of iconic restorations. Theorange arch, the nevers cathedral, the frescoes of the Saint-Martial chapel of the Palace of the Popes (Avignon), the halles du Boulingrin (Reims) , the convent of La Tourette and the diorama by Louis Daguerre in Bry-sur-Marne are thus at the summation.
Vignette illustration: original document of the law of 31 December 1913, National Archives, A 1675
Rediscover the exhibition created as part of the 30e European Heritage and Centennial Days
