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French historical monuments: another fire and still no legislation
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- 1. Kernault Manor
(before the fire)
Mellac (Finistère)
Photo: Lanzonnet (CC BY-SA 3.0) - See the image in its page
A few days ago, the Manoir de Kernault in Brittany (ill. 1), a classified historic monument, fell victim to fire. While its roof and framework were completely destroyed (ill. 2), the chapel was saved, and the tapestries (ill. 3) it housed were also preserved as they had been removed last July and had not yet been hung up. We learned about the latter from an Instagram post on the website of a tapestry restorer, @montainebongrand.
We can only rely on the information we were able to gather on the internet because, despite our requests, the Finistère department, which owns the monument, has not replied to our questions. No doubt they considered that our questions implicated their responsibility, which is not the case, as we pointed out to them.
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- 2. Kernault Manor on fire
Photo: Fondation du patrimoine - See the image in its page
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- 3. Tapestry shown as ’"Bruxelles, XVIth" in the Palissy database, but as Vladimir Nestorov pointed out to us after the publication of this article, it is Glaucus and Scylla, after Laurent de La Hyre.
Wool and silk - 240 x 145 cm
Mellac, Kernault Manor
Photo: CAOA du Finistère - See the image in its page
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- 3. Fire at Kernault Manor
under restoration and on fire
Photo: Département du Finistère - See the image in its page
We were mainly asking about the historic monument worksite that was underway at the time of the disaster. Some photos (ill. 4) show that scaffolding was still up on one side of the monument, and the cagnotte launched by the Fondation du Patrimoine confirms that work on "the framework, roof and joinery of the Seigneurial Dwelling" was due to be completed next spring. Although the work on the roof had been completed according to the site’s director (whom we also tried to contact, to no avail), who told Ouest France, the site was not yet…