From Stone to Cardboard: Looking Back at a Unique Artistic Performance

20 metres high. 1,300 cardboard pieces. Hundreds of helping hands. And a spectacular collapse, amid a lively and festive atmosphere.

For one week, a cardboard replica of the Tour de Beurre gradually took shape at the foot of Saint-Étienne Cathedral. Conceived by artist Olivier Grossetête and his team, it was built piece by piece with teams from the Centre des monuments nationaux, Bourges 2028 volunteers and local community members.

Building the Tour de Beurre

From 14 to 18 September, participants took part in pre-construction workshops before gathering on Saturday 19 September at Place Étienne-Dolet to assemble the tower. Several thousand cardboard pieces were put together by hand to create this monumental replica.

Residents, schoolchildren, associations, visitors and curious passers-by were able to take part at every stage of the project, with no technical skills required. It was an opportunity to discover the heritage around them in a different way, becoming, for a few days, the builders of a work imagined by Olivier Grossetête.

Raising the Tower

Once assembled, the replica was raised in the heart of Bourges thanks to the collective efforts of the participants. Standing 20 metres high and made up of 1,300 cardboard pieces, it echoed the original Tour de Beurre, which towers over the northern side of Saint-Étienne Cathedral.

For a few hours, this temporary structure became part of the cityscape, creating a dialogue between architectural heritage and contemporary creation.

That evening, a participatory dance performance created by choreographer Marie Phliponeau extended the festive moment around the tower.

The Public Collapse

On Sunday 20 September, the public gathered at Place Étienne-Dolet to witness the structure being dismantled. The ropes were pulled, the tower was deliberately brought down and, within seconds, the 20-metre-high cardboard structure collapsed with a spectacular crash.

Far from being a simple act of destruction, the collapse was the culmination of Olivier Grossetête’s artistic approach. After the fall, the cardboard pieces were collected and recycled, bringing the cycle of this ephemeral work to an end.

The Story of a Rebuilt Tower

This new Tour de Beurre directly echoed the history of Saint-Étienne Cathedral. On 31 December 1506, the northern tower suddenly collapsed, dramatically altering the landscape of Bourges. Two years later, in 1508, a major reconstruction project began and was completed in 1542. The new tower, built in the Renaissance style, is the one that can still be admired today.

520 years after this historic collapse, the project From Stone to Cardboard: 520 Years of Living History offered a new way of bringing this episode back to life. The construction and planned disappearance of the cardboard replica directly echoed the tower’s history, while highlighting the fragility and evolving nature of heritage.

A particularly meaningful connection with the theme of the 2026 European Heritage Days: “Heritage at Risk.”

A Collective Achievement

From the first workshops to the final collapse, the project brought together residents, schoolchildren, associations, visitors, Bourges 2028 volunteers, teams from the Centre des monuments nationaux and local stakeholders.

For one week, everyone had the opportunity to take part in building this monumental work before witnessing its dismantling. What remains is not the structure itself, but the memories, encounters and shared experience created around this 520-year-old story.

A project organised as part of the European Heritage Days by the Centre des monuments nationaux, in partnership with the City of Bourges, the DRAC Centre-Val de Loire, Bourges 2028, the Centre-Val de Loire Region and the Heritage and Museums Department of the City of Bourges.