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.

A key outcome of the project is the complete transcription of the constructionsite diary, which was written in the today little known German Kurrentschrift. Building on this transcription, a commented French translation was produced, opening access to the source for an international, especially Frenchspeaking, audience. The edition is supplemented by extensive annotations that explain technical terms, provide biographical information about the actors involved, and situate each construction step in its specific context, thereby making the diary available for research in a scholarly, annotated, and accessible form for the first time. In addition, the diary underwent a systematic substantive analysis, revealing that the documented decisions and practices extend far beyond the Strasbourg construction site. They reflect not only the state of contemporary engineering but also the institutional structures of heritage conservation and the culturalpolitical meanings attached to the building. The study shows that, after 1918, technical arguments were often linked to national narratives that presented the cathedral either as German or French cultural heritage, whereas during the construction period technical expertise transcended national identity constructions and mutually reinforced one another. This insight resulted primarily from reconstructing the networks of actors: besides lead builders and engineers, the contributions of construction firms, craftsmen, administrative officials, and political decisionmakers were taken into account, yielding a nuanced picture of decisionmaking that highlights the collective dimension of this outstanding project. The results demonstrate that the cathedral's restoration cannot be understood as the work of individual national leaders but as the product of a complex collaboration that integrated diverse interests and competencies. Complementing the textual record, the photo albums created during the construction were incorporated as visual sources. They enabled the identification of individual building phases, which were visualised through retroengineering and academically examined. The photographs not only document each construction stage vividly but also provide insight into onsite working conditions and the public staging of the interventions.