Introduction: Heritage and identity in 19th century France -- The early architecture of France -- The defence of France -- Technology and change : improved communications -- Vandalism, ignorance, scholarship, museums -- The organisation of scholarship and museums -- Modernity and its architectural consequences -- The Ile de France and Champagne -- Normandy, the North, Burgundy and points East -- Centre and West -- Centuries of destruction : Narbonne and Nimes -- Provence and the South : monumental losses -- Conclusion: Heritage? What heritage? : the transformation of townscape and landscape -- Appendix -- Bibliography: Sources -- Bibliography: Modern scholars
Summary
Destruction of Cultural Heritage in 19th Century France charts the destruction of earlier architecture as towns pull down their walls, build modern houses, welcome railways and, except for a few scholars, forget about the past. Heritage was largely scorned, and identity found in modernity, not in the past
