The “Archange”

My name is Joseph Rousseau. I was born in “La Flocellière” in Vendée on the 8th of June 1942. My brothers are called Michel, Daniel, and Jean-Marie. We worked with our father in the family business.

Since the 15th of August 1897, “l’Archange Saint Michel” has been protecting our district from the top of its bell tower. For sixty years, it bravely had to cope with storms.

In 1901, and again in 1932, a wing broke away from the Archangel. The repair was done by my grandfather and my father, who were zinc roofers at “La Flocellière”.

A few years later, I was also a zinc roofer and I was asked to clean the dragon and to repaint it. The year before, I had to climb up to the “Archange” to straighten the spear.

After a violent storm, on the 8th of February 1957, the statue tilted slightly. The iron master beam weighing 410 kg was twisted because of the rust.

Very quickly, the mayor decided to take down the statue and to entrust it to my family who knew the statue. Scaffolding was set up at the top of the bell tower but the hardest part remained to be done. The statue was 9,2 meters tall, composed of nine pieces atttached to each other by 600 screws. Slowly but surely, we took down the statue and took it to our workshop. The repairs lasted two years.

In July 1961, the statue was taken down once again and put piece by piece in front of the church in order to allow helicopter transportation.

On Monday 7th of August, our company began putting up the scaffolding. At the end of that week, the first launch pad was installed so as to get the master beam. On Saturday 13th of August, the “Alouette II” helicopter came, flown by Mr Charles Schmitt.

Everything was ready. The hardest thing to do was to put the master beam at the top of the church. This first operation was carried out on Monday 14th of August at 6am. The weather was splendid, there was very little wind. We could work in favourable conditions. My father, my brothers and I were on the launch pad, waiting for the master beam.

The helicopter took off with its 410 kg charge. It was impressive and very dangerous… After a few scares, we managed to stabilize the beam which had arrived at the height of the launch pad. After that, we had to install the second part of the scaffolding in order to build the second launch pad.

On the morning of August 15th, the village was in great excitement. Everybody was coming to watch. It was incredible, I had never seen this before! Stands were built everywhere. People parked their cars in the meadow. Streets were shut to stop cars getting through.

We were on the launch pad trying to fix the last pieces in when we looked down on the village full of people. My heart was beating so fast. All of these people were there to see our work. At the end of the morning, the great celebration began. We were told after that there were approximately 30,000 people present!

The helicopter delivered the last pieces of the “Archange” and the pilot turned his machine around so as to show the spectators the pieces. It was 17:00. I was very tired but we had nearly finished. The “Archange” was the most important piece. Everybody was watching us. The helicopter gave us the precious burden and there was an explosion of joy. Needless to say, it was a fantastic event at the time.

My family and I were so proud. I jumped into my brothers’ arms. We had done it!

My brothers, my father and I had to continue assembling the pieces laid out on the launch pad. We had to put them one by one onto the master beam and screw them together. We had been working for three weeks to make sure the statue returned to its original state.

I was so happy I had done this work with my family. It was an extraordinary experience. It’s partly thanks to us that La Vendée still has its highest statue looking after our region. 

Article by Guillaume HUTIN,
grandson of Joseph Rousseau