The Museums of France in Nouvelle-Aquitaine
To date, nearly 110 establishments in Nouvelle-Aquitaine have the designation «Musée de France» (7 of which are also national museums). This designation may be granted ex officio to national museums created by decree, as well as to most territorial and associative museums hitherto designated as “classified and controlled museums”. on the advice of the High Council of Museums of France, if they meet the criteria set by law.
A public interest, an imprescriptible and inalienable collection
“For the purposes of this Code, a permanent collection is considered to be a museum if it consists of property the preservation and presentation of which is in the public interest and is organized for the public’s knowledge, education and enjoyment.”(Code du patrimoine, article L 410-1)
The identity of the owner of the collections dictates the status of the museum: national museum when the collections belong to the State; departmental when they belong to a General Council; municipal when they belong to a municipality; finally an associative museum when they belong to an association.
The recognition of the «museums of France» is based on the collection and its representativeness in the most diverse fields: from natural history to contemporary art, everyday objects revealing a society with the unique work of an artist!
The notion of public service applied to the museum induces a collective property which cannot be attached to a given time but is part of the duration. If the museum’s pivot – and therefore the pivot of the name – are the collections, they are considered inalienable (they cannot be sold). In addition, the passage of time does not allow questioning: inalienability is imprescriptible.
The public as the first object of the collection
The legitimacy of the consideration of the public is probably the most innovative element of the text voted in 2002. A public service implements a sharing offer as diverse as possible; it can be part of a network involving several museums. In the interest of the greatest access of all to culture, the project scientific and cultural that the institution carries thus weaves links between the public - inhabitants as well as tourists -, the objects and the territory.
How to benefit from the name «musée de France»? (see document for download opposite)
The naming application is a voluntary approach by the legal entity that owns the collections and is based on two fundamental points:
- the existence of a permanent public interest collection (art. L410-1 of the Heritage Code)
- engagement on missions: to preserve, restore, study and enrich collections; to make them accessible to the public; to implement educational and dissemination actions; to contribute to the progress and dissemination of research (art. L441-2 of the Heritage Code)
The Logo appellation «musée de France»
In order to highlight these institutions and allow the public to distinguish them among all the places claiming the name of museum, the Direction des Musées de France launched a competition in 2005 for the creation of an ideogram. The winner is the artist Philippe Apeloig. Born of the shape of a frame, the ideogram of museums in France evokes an architectural space in plan, clearly delimited but open. It thus symbolically sums up the spirit and the main objectives of the law of 4 January 2002: redefine the role and position of the museum in relation to the expectations of society, as an actor of cultural development and democratization; harmonize the status of state-recognized museums and federate institutions.
Contacts
For the departments of:
- Dordogne, Gironde, Landes, Lot-et-Garonne, Pyrénées-Atlantiques: Roland Pintat, 05.57.95.02.09, roland.pintat@culture.gouv.fr
- Corrèze, Creuse, Haute-Vienne: Nicolas Bel, 05.55.45.66.75, nicolas.bel@culture.gouv.fr
- Charente, Charente-Maritime, Deux Sèvres, Vienna:Caroline Papin, 05.49.36.30.20, caroline.papin@culture.gouv.fr
