Engineering Nationality

By focusing on the rescue of Strasbourg Cathedral betw een 1907 and 1926, this interdisciplinary research project intends to study an important, but hitherto neglected, chapter in the history of building engineering, the history of heritage monuments and the history of culture. Johann Knauth (1864-1924), chief architect of Strasbourg Cathedral from 1905 onw ards, discovered in 1903 that the north tow er of Strasbourg Cathedral w as in danger of collapsing and, after much thought, undertook rescue measures w hich w ere completed in 1926 by his successors, Charles -Auguste Pierre (1875-1962) and Clément Dauchy (1865-1927). Johann Knauth`s eventful career (he w as a victim of the rivalry betw een France and Germany after the First World War and died shortly after his expulsion as a foreigner) should not hide the fact that Strasbourg Cathedral w as also a place of technical and cultural exchange - and remains so to this day. These issues are closely associated w ith the cultural and historical significance of the "cathedral w orkshops" (Bauhüttenw esen). It is also a topical subject, since 18 European "cathedral w orkshops" have applied for inclusion in the UNESCO list of intangible cultural heritage this year. For a long time, Germany and France have both claimed to be behind the success of the rescue of Strasbourg cathedral, and it w ill not be until 2015 that the City of Strasbourg, by placing a plaque in memory of Johann Knauth, the initiator of the rescue campaign, w ill put an end to this quarrel over memory. Our w orking hypothesis is based on the idea that the rescue of the technically very innovative tow er foundation can be described neither in German nor in French, but that it is, on the contrary, an interaction betw een expertise from both countries. In this context, the "Knauth case" is also an invitation to rethink the historical-cultural position of other mediators of the Reichsland Alsace-Lorraine period, such as the restorer of Metz Cathedral Paul Tornow (1848-1921), but also university professors and museum directors from Strasbourg. The scientific analysis of the sources, in particular the very detailed site diary by Johann Knauth, should be able to show that the engineering solutions implemented consisted of an addition of know ledge in the field of reinforced concrete and restoration sciences, w hich w ent beyond any national rhetoric and could only really exist in this form in a "laboratory of Europe" city such as Strasbourg at that time.