“Achever ce monument dans son caractère primitif” (“complete this monument in its original character”): The Genesis and Failure of Viollet-le-Duc’s Project to Complete the Church of Saint-Just in Narbonne

In France during the July Monarchy (1830–48), the nation’s heritage authorities initiated several projects to complete unfinished medieval churches. Many of these projects fall into a gray zone between restoration and new construction which challenged their successful outcome. This article focuses on one example of this type of project: the completion of the Church of Saint-Just in Narbonne, undertaken by the French architect Eugène Emmanuel Viollet-le-Duc between 1838 and 1842, at the beginning of his career. After only a few years, Viollet-le-Duc began to oppose the project, eventually disavowing it altogether. Previously unpublished archival materials illuminate the practical, political, and theoretical reasons for his decision.