About Us

The Scientific Team

Christian Corvisier

Christian Corvisier is President of the French Défi Patrimoine (Heritage Challenge). He is an historian of architecture and fortification and an expert on castles. He works in private practice and in partnership with several offices.

Corvisier has led almost a hundred studies of architectural history and archeology of buildings prior to the restoration — those both officially classed as well as unclassed (military, modern and religious medieval and modern). 
He also undertakes thematic studies of buildings at the regional level (e.g. those in the PACA region, or the medieval barns of Picardie) on behalf of the heritage department of the DRAC.

He is a consultant and scientific co-coordinator as part of a mission to accompany an application to UNESCO border cities of former heavy Netherlands Spain (Region Nord Pas-de-Calais, Belgium, and southern Netherlands). He has written numerous (82) scientific publications, as well as monographic and thematic contributions to books and articles.

Corvisier has a deep commitment to the popularization of heritage and making it accessible to all. He has done this through educational workshops and lively cultural events.

Andrew Tallon

Andrew Tallon joined the Vassar faculty in 2007 and teaches medieval art and architecture. He received his Ph.D. from Columbia University with distinction, M.A. from the University of Paris IV (Sorbonne), and B.A. from Princeton University, summa cum laude. His current research interests include architectural structure, medieval acoustics, the culture of building restoration in nineteenth-century France, and the virtual representation of architectural space.

He has published articles on Gothic flying buttresses and on the reconstruction of Lisbon after the earthquake of 1755, and is preparing a book on the early-Gothic structural revolution.

He has also begun a new study, supported by the Samuel Kress Foundation, of the architecture of Bourges Cathedral, and was recently awarded a three-year research grant from the Andrew Mellon Foundation for a project entitled Mapping Gothic France. Tallon is co-founder and associate director of the Vassar-Columbia Field School in Medieval Architecture, which is held in Besson (Allier), France for one month each year.

Pascal Waringo

Pascal Waringo has been a master builder for thirty years. His specialty is restoring heritage buildings. He has spent two of those thirty years in the Ivory Coast working as a project manager, supervising hundreds of workers. For the last several years he has run two companies, SNRB and RCTM. Both of these companies specialize in the restoration of medieval buildings, using medieval building techniques. 

les batisseurs médievaux
           
Waringo has a Master Artisan degree. His achievements in the areas of ancient architecture and carpentry techniques have been nationally recognized.  He has received the title of Fellow of the Tour de France of Historic Site Preservation, the highest award in his profession.
           
Pascal Waringo is passionate about the medieval period. He often conducts demonstrations of medieval measuring techniques, carpentry, rope-making, stone cutting, and the installation of wooden scaffolding. He has constructed and used a medieval crane. (One of these cranes is at the Ozark Medieval Fortress.) He has compiled detailed studies of the origins and use of the measurement techniques that have been used throughout history. He is an expert in the use of the 13-knot rope. He has overseen the construction of heavy medieval war engines, such as catapults and trebuchets. He conducted a great deal of research that led to his invention of a technique for lifting heavy old roofs that enhanced his ability to bring history back to life.
           
Waringo studied under the historians Jean Gimpel, Regine Pernoud, and Roland Bechmann. He has written numerous articles in professional magazines about construction in the Middle Ages. He was part of the original Committee of Ethics at Michel Guyot’s initial castle restoration project in France. His expertise in restoring heritage buildings was recognized in Paris in 1999 when he  received the “National Award of Artisan of Historic French Homes (Vieilles Maisons Francaises). He has received awards from French regional organizations for his work in preserving heritage structures. His knowledge of medieval and modern building techniques allows him to advise teams engaged in preserving delicate heritage buildings and structures.
           
To complement his professional activities, Pascal has participated in medieval re-enactments at many sites in France.
           
Pascal Waringo is faithful to the adage: You have to look at the past to see tomorrow better!    
 
 

Michel Guyot, the inventor → | ← Meet The Crew