Handshouse Studio reconstructed one of Notre-Dame de Paris’ medieval roof trusses in Washington, DC, summer 2021.
Handshouse Studio has completed a full-scale reconstruction of Truss #6, one of the oldest timber trusses that once supported the roof of Notre-Dame de Paris!
With the official drawings created by French lead architects, Rémi Fromont and Cédric Trentesaux, of the Notre-Dame de Paris reconstruction process, and using the materials and methods of the original medieval builders, Handshouse brought together a team of traditional timber framers, carpenters, faculty and students from around the US to build Truss #6 in a 10-day workshop at The Catholic University of America in Washington, DC.
On August 3, the truss was hand-raised on Catholic University campus in front of the Basilica of The National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception. Cardinal Wilton Gregory, who eagerly donned a hard-hat to join the pulling lines raising the truss upright, blessed the truss in a public ceremony for the university community.
On August 5, the truss was hand-raised on the National Mall in Washington DC with the help of members of the Historic Preservation Training Center of the National Park Service. It was dismantled and the timbers were walked by timber trolly to the National Building Museum, where the truss was raised for a third time to be on exhibition in the National Building Museum's Great Hall.
We believe exploring history hands-on brings to life priceless cultural heritage that can not be shared, passed, or understood in any other way. Through workshops, demonstrations, and exhibitions, we continue to celebrate and illuminate the mark of both the original makers, and the value of their part in creating Notre-Dame de Paris.
We believe collaboration is intrinsic to the effort to revive this iconic edifice and acknowledges the impact of this loss of cultural heritage to people around the world. The Handshouse Studio Notre-Dame de Paris Truss Project is a gesture of global solidarity with our fellow traditional crafts people and an act of goodwill among neighbors.
We wish to share our Truss #6 reconstruction as a gift to France and the collective effort to rebuild Notre Dame de Paris.
1. The Next Exhibition: Millennium Gate, Atlanta GA, March 2022
Handshouse Studio’s Notre-Dame Truss #6 reconstruction will be raised again at Millennium Gate in Atlanta, GA in March, 2022.
2. The Notre-Dame de Paris Model Project.
Handshouse Studio is organizing a national project to invite colleges, universities and their faculty and students to join us in building a large-scale wooden model of the oldest trusses in the roof structure above the Notre-Dame cathedral’s choir. In summer of 2021, the Catholic University of America offered a course, taught by Tonya Ohnstad AIA, NCAR, centered on this effort to explore the architectural history of Notre Dame through hands-on construction of the Model of “La Forêt.”
3. The Comprehensive Exhibition of the Notre-Dame de Paris Truss Project at the National Building Museum in 2023.
4. Working toward building our official Gift Truss to give France for the collective effort to rebuild Notre-Dame de Paris!
A thank you to all our collaborators!
Project Partners:
The Catholic University of America
The National Building Museum
The North Bennet Street School
Historic Preservation Training Center of the National Park Service
Preservation Maryland
Charpentiers sans Frontières
Maison Luguet Alsace
Participating Institutions:
The Catholic University of America, Washington DC
Florida State University, Tallahassee, FL
Washington University, St Louis, MO
Virginia Tech (WAAC), Alexandria, VA
About Handshouse Studio
Handshouse Studio is an educational organization whose mission is to create innovative hands-on projects that illuminate history, explore science and perpetuate the arts and has worked with communities locally, nationally, and internationally since 2002. Handshouse creates projects outside the traditional classroom that energize history through the reconstruction of historic objects.
Handshouse attracts collaborations with educational organizations providing students opportunities to work side by side with scholars, historians, architects, artists, and traditional builders in a wide range of subjects. Participants become an integral part of a learning collective remaking historic objects that bring to life tangible and intangible cultural heritage.