The collection of National Commemorations 2016 will be presented at the Institut de France on Tuesday 24 November 2015 at 6.30 pm.
The first volume of the National celebrations.
In 2016, to mark its thirtieth anniversary, the collection revives its old presentation by opting for a purely chronological approach.
Written by leading experts, this book presents an exceptional panorama of anniversaries selected by the High Committee of National Commemorations in all areas of French history.
Among the anniversaries selected under the National Commemorations 2016 (50th and centennial years and their multiples) These include the founding of the Abbey of Mont-Saint-Michel (966), the accession to the throne of England of William the Conqueror (1066), the arrival of Leonardo da Vinci in France (1516), the death of Diana of Poitiers and Nostradamus (1566), the birth of Eustache Le Sueur (1616), the death of Anne of Austria and François Mansart, the foundation of Lorient, the port of Sète and the beginning of the Canal du Midi (1666), the death of Charles de La Fosse (1716), the death of King Stanislas Leczinski and Jean-Marc Nattier (1766), the sinking of La Méduse and the invention of the stethoscope by René Laennec (1816), as well as the discovery of the prehistoric site of Solutré and the birth of Vassili Kandinsky (1866).
As in 2014 and 2015, special attention was paid to the centenary of the Great War, when the personalities and events of 1916 met: Henri Dutilleux, the Battle of Verdun, Mounet-Sully, Pierre Messmer, Joseph Gallieni, Odilon Redon, Marcel Cerdan, Léo Ferré, Françoise Giroud, François Mitterrand, etc.
The more recent times are not neglected however, since the 50th anniversary of the deaths of Jean Lurçat, Alberto Giacometti, Georges Duhamel, Jean Arp and André Breton will be commemorated, the inauguration of the Maison de la Culture d'Amiens by André Malraux or the opening of theA man and a woman by Claude Lelouch and Is Paris on fire? René Clément, without forgetting La Grande Vadrouille of Gérard Oury.
Since 2015, the National Commemorations is published and distributed by Éditions du Patrimoine. As in previous years, two-thirds of the copies will be offered to cultural or educational institutions in charge of audiences furthest away from culture.
Find the events organized around the official anniversaries on the website of the Archives de France: www.archivesdefrance.culture.gouv.fr and on twitter: @ArchivesFrance.