C

hangemois

A gothic art project

DONALD E. RUSSELL
STONE CARVER - ARTIST

www.changemois.org

The researcher in front of his work place

About the artist

Born in the U.S.A. I came to France in 1956, accompanied by my wife and two very small
children. After completing a Masters degree at the University of California at Berkeley, my
aim was to pursue a Doctorate in Paris, but, almost inadvertently, I came to stay.

The region where Gothic architecture was initiated and developed was the le de France.
Since this was where I lived, it seemed normal that I acquire an interest in the 13th and 14th
century marvels that surrounded me.

In 1985 I began following courses on this subject at the Sorbonne, a fascinating hobby that
continued for 15 years. By nature given to research (I was employed at the Musum
National dHistoire Naturelle in Paris for 35 years, doing research in the paleontology of
primitive mammals) I of course supplemented the Sorbonne courses by profiting from the
enormous bibliographic resources that Paris offers to increase my knowledge.

After my retirement in 1992 I was able to devote all my time to a project to build a small
edifice in a pure 13th century style. The Gothic of this period, in my opinion, constitutes an
architecture of unrivaled beauty.

During 1993 I made plans and drawings for this edifice (it is called an edifice for lack of
something better: its not a house, nor a castle, nor a church). To transfer these ideas into
reality, I began carving the wonderful limestone that constitutes much of the old, historical
buildings of Paris. To do this, I hastily constructed a shelter in the backyard of my suburban
home. In 1994 I finished the stone door jambs of a first doorway.

By 2007 I considered that I had carved about 80% of the stones that were necessary for the
windows and doors. My rather advanced age convinced me that it was now or never. After
a discouragingly long search I found property that was sufficiently large, and, moreover,
was situated near the house of my son, in the Morvan natural park of Burgundy.

Dons
Passion

Don has been working on this project

since 1985. A long, slow germination
process was followed, after retirement
in 1992, with designing the Edifice and
then carving stones in his backyard
shed at his home near Paris.

The sculpting
The tools

When about 80% of the stones had been carved Don set out to find a piece of
property to build on. He finally settled on a place in Burgundy, miraculously
obtained permission to build his architectural fantasy, and went to work. The
property had a single room house that was built in the mid -1800s, which would
be convenient to live in while he worked on his project.
The adjoining field was the right size to build his 13th century Edifice on and late
in the summer of 2008 an excavator dug a 4m-deep hole for the foundations and
scooped out access roads as well.

The foundation seemed to take forever,

occupying two years, and entailing a lot of
work, which didnt really show.
Because working on the Edifice exposed during
the winter was not possible, and since Don
needed to be active the year around in order
to finish by the time he turns 92, we had to
build a large shelter that would cover most of
the worksite.

Since a secret tunnel between the

house and the Edifice was desired,
and since it was not really part of
the Edifice, cement blocks and
mortar were used, permitting
construction in early spring and late
fall.

An excavator dug a 60m long, 2.5m-deep

ditch that became the tunnel. A concrete
base was poured and reinforced cinder
block walls erected. An arched concrete
roof, covered by a concealing footpath,
finished this project .

In between the arch supports a reinforced plywood floor was fitted to hold up the
granite ceiling rocks. Afterwards the wooden arch supports were mounted and the
carved arch stones carefully placed with wedges to leave a gap for the mortar.

The Potern hidden door and the

staircase in the tower

Finally, the edifice began to rise

above ground level. At the end of
2012 the wooden vault supports were
removed from most of the basement
rooms.
A valid (and rather spectacular) idea
was finally becoming a reality.

Work continues with the completion of the Griffon room. There are many carved
stones waiting to be assemble into the yet to be built stone walls of the
basement.

We are looking for patrons

of the arts to help finance
this project.

Contact us through
www.changemois.fr
General enquiries and
guided tours by appointment
(+33) 0606515378