Lost Technologies: Arc de Triomphe

2024 Author: Seth Attwood | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-16 15:55

All TV channels on March 16, 2012 sucked another cultural news about the restoration "Arc de Triomphe" in Moscow. Reporters in search of a sensation interviewed the organizers of the trial and experts. Soon, forgetting that in the 19th century, when the arch was being built, Russia was officially considered a "backward country", they threw out everything they had dug into the information space.

The main source of information is the head of the Moscow Department of Cultural Heritage Alexander Vladimirovich Kibovsky. The rest of the specialists whose conclusions became the subject of this article remained largely unnamed. Here are some quotes:

It seems that the walls of this iron casting are really very thin, probably on the order of 1, 5 … 3 cm. This is exactly what they cannot repeat today. Cast iron should not spill into such thin and extended cavities, moreover, giving such an excellent surface quality. It, of course, can be polished in places, but if the casting does not provide such quality, then the entire surface cannot be polished. Brass can pour like this, bronze too, because they have a crystallization temperature lower than that of cast iron. For example, at a temperature of 1200 ° C, cast iron no longer flows, but bronze spills perfectly. Here, apparently, we are observing the result of the unknown for today technologieswhich lost … And these are already serious facts.

After all, what is technology? This is not just a secret, but a whole complex. In order for the technology to work steadily, it is not enough just a cunning handy peasant. Let him be at least ten times a master, even though he has a diamond eye. Needed the right materialsprepared accordingly. It's about the mining industry. Need to the right equipment, that is, melting furnaces that give a stable result in terms of melt temperature, convenient for regular operation and corresponding in volume. Finally, you need correct rigging, in our case - molding materials, plates, boxes, etc. And even if all this, without exception, is available (today it is), nothing will work without knowledge processesoccurring with the metal, and the specific sequence of operations, as well as methods of forming, drying, etc. Only all this together is an technology.

When they talk about a lost technology, for some reason they mean only the latter. Say, the old masters knew where to put a piece of wood in time. But they forget that without the rest, technology is generally impossible. Indeed, in this case, it is not at all about some unique thing that they contrived to make with "God's help and the prayers of all saints." In the first third of the 19th century, there was a grandiose construction in St. Petersburg and Moscow. Remember at least St. Isaac's Cathedral. There is also a similar iron casting … The release of such masterpieces was staged per stream … We should talk about a high level of development of the metallurgical industry. They could successfully cast both serial items, such as supports for columns, and piece items. highly artistic.

Today, of course, you can depict something similar, but only by combining a composition of many elements, or casting it from bronze with thicker walls, and painting it like cast iron. And in general, it is useful to compare what they could in 1834 year and, for example, in 1966when it was decided to restore the Arc de Triomphe for the anniversary. After all, it was completely dismantled in 1936. In both cases, project development and construction were carried out from scratch. Perhaps most of the casting survived and was used in the restoration, including the chariot with six horses.

So, in 1826, the design of the Arch was entrusted to the architect Osip Bove … In the same year, he developed its initial project. However, the decision on a new layout led to the need to redesign the project. The new version, on which Bove worked for almost two years, was adopted in April 1829. The construction of the Triumphal Gate stretched over five years … Largely due to lack of funds. Only on September 20, 1834, the opening of this monument took place.

Many people think that Beauvais's job was only to create an album of sketches, which is already quite a lot, given the artistic level of the object. But when it comes to a modern project, everyone already presents stacks of drawings with links to the terrain, soil cuts, exact dimensions, designation of communications, specification of materials, calculations and estimates.

This performance wrong … If you think a little, then you yourself will understand that even then the entire volume of work was necessary, as it is now. Without all the documentation listed, even an estimate cannot be made, and this is important at all times. Osip Bove had a different paper, different pencils than modern architects, but the amount of work was the same.

In 1966, it was decided to restore the Arc de Triomphe in a new place. The team of the 7th workshop "Mosproekt-3" headed by V. Libson, consisting of architects D. Kulchinsky and I. Ruben, engineers M. Grankina and A. Rubtsova worked on the project.

The sculptors-restorers of the Industrial and Artistic Combine of the Ministry of Culture of the USSR, having carefully studied the archival materials, prepared plaster casts and forms of parts that were to be cast anew. More than 150models - exact copies of each restored decor element.

Experienced artisans of artistic casting on plaster molds again cast individual figures, lost parts of military armor and coats of arms of old Russian cities, as well as reliefs with military attributes instead of the original ones. The minters also worked a lot on the castings. Great skill was required in order to assemble reliefs with images of ancient warriors, pyramids from military armor from scattered parts, to recreate the lost fragments of the cast-iron "clothing" of the Triumphal Gate.

Concrete workers, cladders, fitters, stone cutters and welders of the 37th Construction Directorate of the Embankment and Bridge Construction Trust worked on the construction of the monument. The columns, each weighing 16 tons, were re-cast at the Moscow Stankolit plant based on the details of the only surviving old column. As a result, in 1968 the remarkable creation of Bove found a second life.

That is Osip Bove in a yeardeveloped the first project (not the fact that it is less complicated), and in two years - the second. Builders and foundry workers cast and built it all in 5 years … They did not use, according to conventional wisdom, construction cranes and concrete technology, which significantly accelerates the process. Construction materials were delivered not by 10-ton trucks, but by carts with a carrying capacity of 300 kg, which is 33 times less and 12 times slower. Moreover, construction was suspended due to lack of funding. But, done in 5 yearsnot in a hurry.

There was no particular admiration for the construction of the arch in the 19th century. Apparently, at that time it was a common occurrence. But the restoration work carried out 150 yearslater, in the descriptions they look almost a feat. And despite the fact that the base was made of concrete, the top of the arch was covered with roofing material, only the missing elements could be cast, and all the cast-iron parts were carefully painted Kuzbasslak(coal dust dissolved in a solvent).

According to experts today, the new remarkable coating contributed to the destruction of the unique cast iron casting, which had stood for 102 years without significant damage. And not the whole complex was restored. Not included in the new project guardhouse, symmetrically located earlier on both sides.

The guardrooms are not the columns that you see in the foreground, but the buildings with a low dome and colonnade, standing to the left and right of the arch itself. In the original project, the guardrooms were connected to the arch with an openwork wrought-iron lattice.

All this lasted until a major overhaul, only 44 of the year. In my opinion, the comparison is not in favor of modernity.

But, the most important question still remains unanswered. Where does all this come from?

Muscovy, which grew into the Russian Empire and made St. Petersburg its capital, since the accession of the Romanov dynasty, did nothing but genocide its own population and appropriate the lands of the former Tartary. This social policy did not at all contribute to the flourishing of culture and crafts. Perhaps in terms of luxury goods. But the aspects of the industry that we touched upon still reflect its general, basic state.

One gets the impression that this economic wealth was acquired along with the annexation of supposedly wild new lands. The richest craft centers were probably captured on Ural and in Siberia … The new capital has been beautified remnants of greatness the old Empire …

Alexey Artemiev, Izhevsk.