They are interested in heritage, are driven by the desire to travel usefully and are curious to discover little-known know-how.
They are between 14 and 30 years old, are college students or young adults, and it is through stone cutting, masonry, devegetation or even repointing that they fulfill these desires.
Their support?
Churches, abbeys, castles, citadels and other monuments that have been abandoned for several decades, even several centuries.
Their tools?
Mortar, shovels and hammers of all kinds.
All in the service of a mission: renovating heritage, in a friendly atmosphere, summer camp style – with added impact.
Young people under 30 seem, even more than the generation preceding them, to be interested in and to work on restoring the built heritage of their country.
And one formula particularly appeals to them: that of renovation projects (sometimes called camps), in one to three weeks over one or several summers.
Marie Guyonnet took part in one of these stays in Ain last summer: for seven days, the nurse, now 28 years old, helped renovate the medieval church of Saint-Alban, a jewel of heritage of this village of nearly 200 souls.
Said week was organized by the Arcade association, but the young woman had already participated in this type of catering in private homes.
“
I have always been sensitive to beautiful things.
I really like using my hands, making plastic art
,” she explains.
Nothing surprising for Brieuc Clerc, co-founder of Arcade, which has, since 2019, made it possible to restore around thirty places in France: “
We see among young people a thirst to make themselves useful by doing something with their hands, which meets a craze for heritage and monuments.
And they want this work to have a concrete and direct impact
.
»
Chloé Le Bihan, director of youth workcamps in another association created in 1952, the Club du Vieux Manoir, also notes a enthusiasm for heritage and its restoration.
Multiplication of YouTube channels and accounts on social networks which carry out renovation work, television broadcasts, Heritage Lottery or even “
the leading figure represented by Stéphane Bern
”… The media coverage of the practice is not unrelated to this enthusiasm .
“I come away much more enriched than if I had visited the region as a simple tourist”
Heritage restoration camps are an opportunity to discover the territory in a different way.
BenjaminPierson
Another explanation: interest in history, and more particularly the desire to be part of it.
What better way to do this than renovating a building from the past, which precedes us and which will succeed us thanks to our work?
For Brieuc Clerc, this logic was reinforced by the Notre-Dame fire in 2019: “
It threw a spotlight on heritage issues, and made young people want to be builders in their turn
.
»
In addition to being interested in history, young people also want to know their country.
This is what motivated Paul Nechan Balian to participate in a renovation project two consecutive summers, in 2017 and 2018. This 28-year-old soldier spent six weeks helping to renovate the Saint-Jean church in Meghri, in the Syunik, Armenia.
Of Armenian origin, but born in France, he was above all driven by the desire to confront his vision of the country with reality.
And to help bring its heritage back to life: “
Renovating this church meant helping to perpetuate what was then only a partially destroyed ruin dating from the 13th century.
Participating in the project that would breathe new life into it was something very powerful for me
.
»
All this, via a different way of traveling.
“
I didn’t want to live a purely tourist experience, I wanted to create another link with the people there,
” emphasizes Paul Nechan Balian.
Same story with Marie Guyonnet: “
When you are a tourist, you consume.
There, we come into a different dynamic.
This educates our view of heritage.
I come away much more enriched than if I had visited the region as a simple tourist.
»
Create a link
Stays dedicated to heritage renovation allow you to forge a link with local life in the village where the work is taking place.
Arcade
And it’s not just the experience of the participant in the worksite that differs.
The very nature of the trip changes local perceptions of volunteers.
The reception is radically different, “
easier
”, for Marie Guyonnet.
The Arcade association places particular emphasis on this aspect: “
Our two pillars are the restoration of heritage and the restoration of social ties
” supports Brieuc Clerc.
The morning is reserved for the renovation of the building, while the afternoon is intended for activities or visits, linked to the life of the village and its inhabitants.
Catering also makes it possible to create groups united around a common and unifying project: “
We have shy profiles, or those who have been harassed at school.
In addition to making a clean sweep of the past, the project allows us to work towards a common goal that goes beyond them: the mortar that the group uses for the walls also binds the team of volunteers
” underlines Chloé Le Bihan, from the Club du Vieux Manoir.
No skills are required to participate in this type of project, open, depending on the associations, from 14, 16 or 18 years old.
And it is possible to register alone or with friends.
Among the groups, we find all age groups and a more or less equal proportion of girls and boys.
The price, finally, constitutes a significant advantage.
Arcade volunteers pay for their journey, 15 euros of insurance, and “
a few euros per day
” for stewardship, with full board.
At the Club du Vieux Manoir, the stay costs amount to 255 euros, to which are added 30 euros of registration fees and the journey.
Volunteers at the camps organized by the Association Chantiers Histoire et Architecture Médiévales (CHAM) pay 30 euros for membership and 295 euros for a three-week camp, travel not included.
Despite the interest shown in them, heritage restoration projects have still experienced a slight halt with the Covid-19 pandemic.
Cécile Le Blainvaux, stay director at CHAM, notes an evolution in the forms and modes of commitment: “
Commitment is experienced as something more punctual.
And volunteers are returning less and less to several construction sites.
In the early days of the association, some people could return to construction sites for fifteen years in a row.
» Marie Guyonnet, already re-registered on the same site next summer.
What gives rise to a vocation?
“
After my week at the Saint-Alban church, I wondered if I was not going to change my career path.
Today, it remains a medium-term project.
»