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The Earful Tower: Paris

Zinc: A close-up on the iconic Paris rooftops

The Earful Tower: Paris

Oliver Gee

Arts, Paris, Society & Culture, Travel, Places & Travel, France

4.8749 Ratings

🗓️ 25 December 2023

⏱️ 36 minutes

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

Z is for Zinc.

In this season finale episode, we tackle the topic of zinc, which is used to make 75 percent of the Paris rooftops. 

I chat with Constance Allard, who runs the zinc workshop Les toits Parisiens. I also climbed onto a zinc roofing construction site in the 1st arrondissement, and chatted with roofer Frederic Cordier from the roofing company La Louisane

You can see some amazing pictures from our rooftop escapades here on the official website.

Do you like this podcast? Become a Patreon member of The Earful Tower here to support this show and get extras.

The music in this episode is from Pres Maxson, find his Substack here. 

Click here for our walking tours of Paris.

Transcript

Click on a timestamp to play from that location

0:00.0

Here I stand on the rooftops of Paris with about a 360 degree view from the first Aaron Dismont.

0:09.3

I've got a helmet on my head, I got steel cap boots on my feet, and I'm watching some roofers remake an iconic grey rooftop.

0:20.5

This marks the season finale

0:22.6

of the Earful Towers A-B-Sseason.

0:25.0

I told you I'd finish on a high

0:26.6

and I literally have.

0:28.4

But how did I get up here

0:29.7

and what am I doing?

0:31.5

Well, let me tell you.

0:33.4

My name's Oliver G.

0:34.6

This is the Yearful Tower

0:35.6

and Z or Z stands for zinc. Well, that was quite a dramatic introduction, but this is the season finale, and it has to be that way.

1:08.9

But before we get into today's episode I just want to make

1:11.7

sure we're all on the same page here zinc rooftops so if you've ever been to Paris or seen a

1:18.0

picture of Paris you should know what I'm talking about because about 75% of the rooftops in this

1:24.1

city are made of this really iconic zinc now Now, the men and women who make it,

1:30.7

who restore it, who repair it, they're called couvreux and gins, and these roofers or zinkers

1:39.3

are, it's a real special job. So much so like the the know-how and the craftsmanship that

1:45.3

goes into it so much so that it looks likely that next year the art of making these rooftops

1:52.9

could well be heritage listed by unESCO as a part of the intangible heritage in other words

2:00.4

it's not the roofs but the making of the roof the repairing of the intangible heritage. In other words, it's not the roofs, but the making of the

2:03.3

roof, the repairing of the roof, the know-how, the Savoyaffair that goes with it. So that's going to be

...

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