La Mission Héliographique: Architectural Photography, Collective Memory and the Patrimony of France, 1851

This chapter explores the way in which heritage preservation, collective memory and architectural photography converged in the work of the Mission Heliographique, a state-sponsored project to survey and document the state of France’s architectural patrimony. In 1794, Abbe Gregoire coined the word vandalism to describe the hostile acts of revolutionaries who smashed and pillaged buildings, sculpture and artefacts associated with the aristocracy, monarchy or church. Perhaps the most influential work landmarking the historic sites of France and locating them on the visionary map was the twenty-three-volume Voyages pittoresques et romantiques dans l’ancienne France compiled by Isidore Justin Taylor and the writer Charles Nodier. The Societe Heliographique was formed in Paris in January 1851, with a weekly journal, La Lumiere, edited by Ernest Lacan. In general it can be claimed that the Mission Heliographique was a product of its age: a time when the Middle Ages were being re-evaluated as the cradle of nation while a preservation mentality was being installed.