Is everything going swimmingly?

I’m lucky – I swim in the Loire, I sail on it and I work there as an archaeologist.

The Loire is sometimes my office, my good fortune. 

Veuzain-sur-Loire, site of a 14^th-century shipwreck in the Département of Loir-et-Cher. A morning of archaeological fieldwork: it’s cold, flat and wet. The wreck lies there, gutted, turned upside down by the passage of time. Archaeologists are working in the abyssal river depths: from 80 cm to 3 m down!

We are studying the world of sunken ships and shipwrecks. We are rediscovering wood and caulking and weaving this knowledge back together. The wreck, open and filled with sand, tells of forgotten voyages, the perils of the river, soaking wet crews and buried cargo. 

Underwater, the Loire is a river that grows, feeds, shakes its banks and jostles with the sand. Working against the tide, we need to recognise, record and study the site with unflinching scientific rigour. Sketch, analyse, cut, measure, sample and dismantle the hull of the slumbering boat. And try to rediscover the traditional techniques used in 1311 to build a chaland, a flat-bottomed barge, out of oak and elm.

Nautical knowledge of the Loire recognised as part of France’s intangible cultural heritage

This is where the link with intangible cultural heritage comes in. Moving from traditional practices to the contemporary practices of ‘river-faring folk’. Asking today’s boatbuilders about their approaches to designing and making boats. Studying the shipbuilding process with them and rediscovering ways of sailing.

These were the steps that led us to the project to recognise the nautical knowledge of the Loire as part of France’s intangible cultural heritage. This initiative, supported by the ‘Loire Grandeur Nature’ plan, has been led by riverboaters, Loire enthusiasts, anthropologists, illustrators, scriptwriters, documentary-makers and numerous organisations since 2023 across three regions: Pays de la Loire, Centre-Val de Loire and Bourgogne-Franche-Comté. It is the culmination of a thought process – carefully considered over a long period of time – on the quality of ‘knowledge about sailing’ on the Loire.

Virginie Serna
Chief Heritage Curator, Ministry of Culture