Address by Frédéric Mitterrand, Minister of Culture and Communication, on the occasion of the 20th anniversary of the National Heritage Institute

Showcasing our heritage is not just about nurturing worship.
monuments» dear to Aloïs Riegl, or maintain the religion of the old
stones, it also means strengthening the attractiveness of our territories and investing in
the future. The notion of Heritage - plural - is significant in this respect:
heritage is not frozen, it is open to the dynamics of society,
it is shaped and built in the present. Masterpieces of our
museums with sometimes little known rural and industrial heritage,
from the historical monuments that dot our territories to the documents
unique that our archives preserve, archaeological discoveries
natural specimens preserved in our natural history museums,
heritage is a living asset. The National Heritage Institute,
and all students and alumni who choose to commit to
service of heritage, fully reflect this vitality.
I would therefore like to greet very warmly all those who have
took part in the organization of these two days of the 20th conference
National Heritage Institute, 20th anniversary which is
also the creation of the body and territorial framework of the conservatives
heritage. It was in 1990 that the institution was created. First,
under the name of the National School of Heritage, to organize the
recruitment and initial and ongoing training of curators of
The Institute for the Training of Restaurateurs
works of art (IFROA) in 1996, and in 2001 took its definitive name of Institute
national heritage, with its two pedagogical departments
today complementary and inseparable: the Department of
heritage curators and heritage restorers, two
jobs that are constantly working together and enriching each other.
This creation, 20 years ago, of a single school of the Ministry of Culture
and Communication to train all heritage professionals,
has greatly benefited, and still benefits, the institutions
to all our heritage.
Many thanks to the members of the honorary committee and the members of the
scientific committee of this symposium. Many thanks to the committee chair
scientists, Pierre Rosenberg. Many thanks to
conservative stakeholders, restaurateurs, academics, chefs
from all over France but also from all over Europe and
from the United States. Many thanks to you who have come, so many,
to attend these days. Many thanks to the teams of the National Institute
its teachers and conservative students, and
Many thanks, finally, to all those who bring their
support for the action of the INP, in particular the foundation chaired by Marc
Ladreit de Lacharrière Culture & Diversité, at the Carnot Foundation, and Air
France, represented today by General Pons.
I wanted to be with you this morning. I made that commitment.
long before the government reshuffle and I am delighted
especially to hold it a few days after it took place.
On April 8, you will recall, I came to visit the institutions of
this Colbert gallery where we are. I went to the INHA. I
went to the Inp. I told the students that I joined during their class
Fernand Braudel that if I were their age, I would do today the
same as them. I know few trades as exciting as
yours, and also important for our societies often paid into a
hyper-present without depth or memory. Societies that forget the
tenuous - but so essential - link between the valorization of the most
beautiful and most precious of our past and building a future
shared. Your trades, your techniques, your talents, your passion
you “culture smugglers”.
Your skills are unique and diverse. You are a
art historians, historians, ethnologists sometimes, bringing to these
disciplines your relationship so strong to the subject; you are scientists
mastering the physical and chemical qualities of the works' materials;
you are process and procedure technicians;
you have in common with the artist sensitivity, gesture, intuition; you
are also administrators capable of managing and directing services,
capable of implementing national public policies or
territorial.
You are responsible for monuments, collections, institutions whose
age is measured in centuries and you face the challenges and challenges most
future, which will be discussed at the end of this symposium: the impact of
new technologies and digitization, the changing public, the
Globalization of the museum offering. Without you and your colleagues,
libraries, no National Library of France; without you, no
of «grand Louvre», no Guimet museum renovated; no museum of the
Quai Branly; no new National Archives centre in Pierrefitte;
without you, there is no possibility of raising the devastated monuments of
Abruzzo and I would like to say how proud I am of the teachers and
students restorers of the Inp, so involved in the cooperation
for the restoration of the Church of Santa Maria del Suffragio in
L'Aquila; without you, no heritage digitization policy. For
the future of our heritage policies, nothing can be done without you,
Nothing can be done against you.
Conserve, restore: these professions, these scientific, cultural functions,
social and political policies exist in all countries concerned about their
heritage. In every country, even in every major cultural area,
they have specificities. Differences in models, ways of
working, relationships between conservators and restaurateurs, even
will also be the subject of some of your debates. In
France, I measure the expectations of restaurateurs, who
to find their place in the institutions. I am
convinced that the Department needs to reflect on this and I
asks the Director General of Heritage, Philippe Bélaval,
to deepen the reflection, in consultation with professionals and
institutions.
Beyond specificities, you are all faced with the same missions,
the same issues, the same challenges. On the occasion of this anniversary,
you wanted to celebrate what has been accomplished: it is natural. But
you wanted more: you wanted to start thinking
on the future, from an international level meeting.
We are indeed in an open world where works and audiences
circulate, where professionals circulate and are called to circulate
exchange and enrich their skills and knowledge. From
the European area promotes freedom of
rights. This freedom must be able to live
as an asset, a chance rich in new possibilities, and not
as a risk, if not a threat to professional quality and
security of collections.
The National Heritage Institute must train restorers and
Conservatives who are able to work abroad. I know they are
and already the case.
At the same time, tomorrow we will have to welcome professionals
from the rest of Europe, under conditions compatible with the
requirements we have for the management of our institutions, to
the reception of our audiences, development, enrichment and
preservation of our collections. My concern on this subject is twofold:
respect the principle of openness but also to guarantee the level of
qualifications.
From this point of view, I do not want to avoid the question of
in France, of the European Directive on Services. This
leads us to develop our texts and especially the
Museums Act, 2002, which regulates the
possibility to intervene in restoration on public collections. I am
aware of the challenges this text represents for the future of your
I want to make it one of my priorities.
These questions of training and competence, so important for everyone
of you, so important to the institutions and heritage you
have the burden, so important to communities as a whole,
we must approach them with height, generosity and ambition.
We need to address them from above, we need to address them -
forgive me for this pun – without conservatism. This is what you
made today in this demonstration. This is what the Inp must do to
its 20th anniversary, and I approve, dear Eric Gross, the
In this sense, its management has given rise to major developments.
Yes! You have my support and I ask you to lead these evolutions
to the end. Basically, as I understand it, the Inp’s response to
challenges of the future, whether it is the training of
restaurant owners or curators, it’s training more, training
better. This means deepening scientific training, diversifying and
enrich career paths, identify new recruitment pools,
especially among the younger generations of immigrants who
must also be able, through their participation in these professions and
these functions, feel fully custodians and fully
responsible for the common heritage.
In this regard, I congratulate INP and its partners - the Ecole du Louvre, the Ecole
Charters, the Foundation Culture&Diversity - to have created a class
As you know, I am a member of the
I am following this initiative very closely and I want to give it my full support.
I think the INP answer is the right answer. It seems simple,
but it is complex to implement. It calls for a policy
This is the first of its kind in terms of rapprochement, cooperation and partnership.
First, the institution, its ministry and the professionals themselves
are fully aware that scientific deepening
training must take place within an institutional framework that is
higher education and research in France and Europe. This
general framework, it is the so-called “LMD” (Master’s Degree Doctorate), which is
a European standard. As a result, both curators and
restorers, the goal and ambition to carry their scientific training
at the doctoral level, with the support of their training institution,
which will remain the Inp of course, and their line ministries: the
Ministry of Culture and Communication and the Ministry of the Interior
in charge of local authorities.
For this, the INP has initiated extremely promising connections,
especially with the new research hub and
«Hautes études Sorbonne Arts et Métiers»,
of which he is now a member.
It is within the framework of this new pole that the
creation, in partnership with the University Paris 1 Panthéon Sorbonne,
doctoral training, which does not yet exist, in Sciences de la
conservation and restoration.
And it is this framework that will facilitate the continuation of their journey
by young conservative students of the Inp. But I wish
also that this fruitful rapprochement, which is also a
The European Parliament’s
on international cooperation.
And I especially want to thank, for all the role he plays, the one who,
since last September, chairs the Board of Directors of the INP,
Patrick Gérard, rector of the academy, chancellor of the universities of Paris.
At my request, INP is exploring another way, by participating in the project of
National Centre for Conservation, Restoration and Research
will be created in Cergy Pontoise, near Paris. The
will be, after 2015, a unique set of large institutions
heritage, training, restoration and heritage research,
which will in particular allow continuity between initial training and
permanent and research.
It was therefore very important that these days take place and it is very
important that they have a future. It’s important, it’s essential
for the young conservators and restaurateurs we train, for
their elders, for each of you who are repositories of knowledge, of
skills, expertise, these qualities including a certain Prosper Mérimée
had intuition under the July Monarchy and one of whom was Ludovic Vitet
was the mastermind at the same time. Tireless travellers, curious
all in all, they were at the origin of a true public policy in
historic and heritage monuments. Today you are the
heirs, you must keep intact their passion for discovery and
travel, this Vertigo from the list that Umberto Eco spoke about at the Louvre
which makes culture an asset never acquired, but a result
always won over.
Thank you.