The monuments of the State
The State owns about 1,300 buildings protected as historic monuments, representing 3% of the total number of monuments in the national territory. Of these 1,300 monuments, 448 are under the Ministry of Culture.
The Ministry of Culture is in charge of the national palaces and estates that are historically the former «domains of the Crown», such as the castles and estates of Versailles, Fontainebleau, Compiègne, Saint-Germain-en-Laye, Rambouillet, Chambord and Pau, the Tuileries Garden, the remains of the Palais de la Cité, the keep and the Sainte Chapelle de Vincennes, the estates of Saint-Cloud, Meudon and Marly. These castles or palaces often house major national museums, which are «museums of France», such as the Louvre, Versailles, Fontainebleau, Compiègne, Saint-Germain-en-Laye and Pau.
Heir of the «Beaux-Arts» administration, the Ministry of Culture is also in charge of the 84 cathedrals of France called «concordataires» or assimilated (Alsace-Moselle and overseas), whose membership in the national community was confirmed by the 1905 Church-State Separation Act. In this same category of great monuments assigned to worship, the Ministry of Culture is also in charge of the Basilica of Saint-Denis, former royal necropolis turned cathedral in XXe century and the basilica Saint-Nazaire in Carcassonne. The State, through the Ministry of Culture is also the owner of former large abbeys, such as Mont-Saint-Michel, Cluny Abbey, or Fontevraud Abbey.
Major cultural institutions under the Ministry of Culture are housed in historical monuments that belong to the State: Opéra de Paris (Palais Garnier), Comédie française (Palais-Royal), Théâtre de l'Odéon, Opéra comique (Salle Favart), Musée d'Orsay, National Archives «quadrilatère des Archives», Bibliothèque nationale «quadrilatère Richelieu», Grand-Palais, Théâtre national de Chaillot and Cité de l'architecture et du patrimoine (Palais de Chaillot). Among the emblematic monuments of the Parisian landscape, owned by the State and under the Ministry of Culture, there are also large commemorative monuments, such as the Pantheon, the Arc de Triomphe de l'Étoile, the Vendôme column, the Bastille column, or the Luxor Obelisk. The state heritage entrusted to the Ministry of Culture also includes major archaeological sites, ornate caves such as Lascaux, Font-de-Game or Chauvet, or megalithic sites such as the Carnac alignments.
The Ministry of Culture ensures the conservation of these monuments either directly for the cathedrals, or through public institutions placed under its supervision, such as the public establishment of the castle, the museum and the estate of Versailles, the public institution of the National Domain of Chambord the public institution of the Louvre Museum, the public institution of the château de Fontainebleau, the public establishment of the Grand Palais and the Centre des monuments nationaux.
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