The architect who took charge of the Sainte-Chapelle's restoration in 1841, part of the campaign that brought the ruined chapel back from its years as a government archive store — and the training ground for the Gothic restoration he and Viollet-le-Duc went on to carry out at Notre-Dame.
The competition to restore Notre-Dame was launched in 1842 and won in 1844 by Lassus and Eugène Viollet-le-Duc. Their submission proposed a deliberate restraint — "une religieuse discrétion", a complete self-effacement before the building. Lassus died in 1857 with the work unfinished; Viollet-le-Duc carried it on, and the spire they designed together stood until the 2019 fire.
Visit the placeThe chapel's restoration ran from 1840 to 1863 under Félix Duban, Jean-Baptiste-Antoine Lassus and Émile Boeswillwald, with the stated aim of returning the building to its thirteenth-century appearance. Lassus took charge in 1841. He and Viollet-le-Duc went on to restore Notre-Dame; the Sainte-Chapelle is where that generation learned how.
Visit the place
Worked at · 1844–1857
The competition to restore Notre-Dame was launched in 1842 and won in 1844 by Lassus and Eugène Viollet-le-Duc. Their submission proposed a deliberate restraint — "une religieuse discrétion", a complete self-effacement before the building. Lassus died in 1857 with the work unfinished; Viollet-le-Duc carried it on, and the spire they designed together stood until the 2019 fire.
Worked at · 1841–1863
The chapel's restoration ran from 1840 to 1863 under Félix Duban, Jean-Baptiste-Antoine Lassus and Émile Boeswillwald, with the stated aim of returning the building to its thirteenth-century appearance. Lassus took charge in 1841. He and Viollet-le-Duc went on to restore Notre-Dame; the Sainte-Chapelle is where that generation learned how.