Eugene Viollet-le-Duc (1814-1879), accomplished artist, brillant illustrator and theoretician, is known in France and throughout the world for his vast knowledge of the medieval period and Gothic architecture. This led him to conduct the restoration of two fabulous constructions from that period, the fortifications surrounding the city of Carcassonne and the story book castle of Pierrefonds. His very romatic approach to the Middle Ages has come down to us intact through thousands of pen drawings and his virtuoso watercolors.