The Vitrail Saint-Georges workshop restores the stained glass windows of Notre-Dame in a rural setting in Lyon

Simple wooden boxes on wheels and some foam to prop them up were enough to transport the stained glass windows of Notre-Dame de Paris to a small farmhouse in the Lyon countryside. A twenty-minute drive west of Lyon, the Vitrail Saint-Georges workshop perpetuates rare manual know-how in a former hunting lodge nestled at the end of a long white gravel driveway. Know-how that the handful of historic employees of this Lyon institution puts at the service of the most prestigious French heritage projects. Jean Mône developed the activity of the workshop, founded in 1852 and taken over by his father, Joël, in 1979, since the move from Vieux-Lyon to Saint-Genis-les-Ollières.

On this Thursday morning, the rays of sunlight passing through the workshop are reflected on the pieces of glass, while Annick's hands are busy, precise, cutting out small pieces. They will fill the lead rods waiting nearby to compose the stained glass windows. From…