Ladies and gentlemen,
Dear friends,
Thank you for coming so many this morning for this press conference dedicated to this new edition of the European Heritage Days.
These days, we must rejoice, are a very popular event. Next weekend, one Frenchman in five will visit one of the 17,000 places open to the public, both overseas and in France. There is no cultural event of this magnitude in France.
Its success evidences of course a deep attachment of the Nation to its monuments and gardens: the French love their heritage.
But more fundamentally, it bears witness to a desire for culture shared by all: this is a time when those who sometimes feel illegitimate in cultural places merge with those who are accustomed to museums or theatres.
Reversing this feeling of illegitimacy, as you know, is one of the major ambitions of my mandate. In this regard, Heritage Days are a success story, a case study of our enterprise of democratization through culture, which I want to expand even further.
Thanks to our European partners, who are now involved. Thank you to public and private partners, media partners, who give these two days the impact and scale they deserve.
These days obviously have the scent of mystery, because we cross thresholds that are usually closed to us.
We will probably think first of the Palaces of the Republic. But it is all these private houses, hidden gardens, industrial buildings or lesser known castles that I want to refer to. From the Botanical Conservatory of Brest to the RATP Bus Centre in Lagny, via the Tourville Battery in Gréville-Hague, in the English Channel, or the Belvedere Hotel of the Green Ray in Cerbère, in the Eastern Pyrenees, these are places that our fellow citizens sometimes pass by every day and suddenly discover themselves.
Their openness proves to everyone that our country’s heritage is alive and well. That he has not only a past, that he is not only a witness of the past, but that he has a present.
Heritage owes this present to all those who care for it. I am talking about those who restore, maintain, defend, animate, present historic monuments such as heritage buildings and open them to the public. The representatives of the heritage associations are here with us this morning: we must greet them and thank them.
This present heritage also owes it to all those who work to give it back all the glory it deserves. I am thinking here in particular of the companions, craftsmen and masters of art. Their extraordinary know-how makes us proud; it is recognized throughout the world. The French will have the opportunity to discover it in many recently restored monuments, such as the stained glass windows and portals of the Basilica of Saint-Denis, which will be inaugurated this week, or at the practical workshops during these two days.
This present heritage owes it finally to all those who live there, work there, make it the place of their activity. These places are beautiful, they carry within them the memory of past activities; but because they are beautiful, should we deprive them of present activities? These are recurring questions among lovers and heritage advocates. They are legitimate.
My belief is that we must not shy away from thinking about transforming the use of heritage buildings – and implementing a profitable or not, public or private activity. A fortiori if we wish that abandoned monuments, in disrepair, find life or give new life to the territory that houses them. We will soon be launching an initiative in this regard with the Heritage Foundation.
There is no shortage of examples of success: for example, the very successful transformation of the Aubervilliers Match Factory, which now houses the restorative students of the National Heritage Institute.
To say that heritage has a present is also to evoke the moment when buildings are being built, when the architectural gesture is taking shape, when the future is being built. This is the whole meaning of the theme we have chosen for this edition of the Days: «the heritage of the 21st century, a history of the future».
Heritage has long been opposed to contemporary architecture, creating a kind of perpetual quarrel between the old and the modern. Is it the time spent that distinguishes heritage from creation? And in this case, how old is it to be part of heritage?
For the Department, this issue is not new. Malraux was the first to do so with Le Corbusier, whose works he protected during the architect’s lifetime. We also have a 20th century label that distinguishes recent major buildings. It will be strengthened by the law.
But beyond that, my conviction is that we must strive to look at the present with the eye of the future: between creation and heritage, there is a continuum. This is the best way to value both.
This is the spirit of these European Heritage Days, the spirit of the law that I will present to Parliament at the end of the month, and the spirit of the National Strategy for Architecture that I wanted to engage as soon as I arrived on rue de Valois.
There is no doubt about the vitality of architecture in France today. And its place in the heritage that we will leave to our children tomorrow is being prepared today. The stakes far exceed the great architectural gestures and monumental constructions. The daily living environment also has its importance.
I would add that architects themselves are transforming and reinventing part of our heritage today.
So whether it’s big names or young professionals – and in particular the winners of the Young Albums of Architecture and Landscape, AJAP – architects are at the heart of my attention. I want to both improve their exercise conditions and make their work better known, and ensure that we look at the construction of the space around us differently.
Some of the proposals made to me this summer by the architects of the working groups, whom I welcome and thank, will be included in the bill, “freedom of creation, architecture and heritage”.
To look at the space around us in a different way, we must first be attentive to all the dwelling places that come out of the ground. I am thinking in particular of subdivisions, which considerably structure the peri-urban territories of our country. The architectural, urban and landscape project, already mandatory, should now be carried out by an architect.
To make the work of architects better known, we must finally be able to identify them. This is the whole point of the proposal we made to affix the name of the architect to the buildings each time.
These are some measures of the National Strategy for Architecture. We will have the opportunity to discuss more fully all the measures we want to take.
By visiting today’s creation, the French will visit the heritage of tomorrow. One of its characteristic features, which will undoubtedly retain the generations that follow us, is the concern to build sustainable, to ensure the energy performance of buildings – criteria that we wanted to highlight a few months before COP21.
I will go to the ZAC Paris Rive Gauche, which is a fine example of the ambition we have for the city today, and the continuum between creation and heritage that I mentioned: the creations of the architects mingle with the traces left by this industrial heritage including this district of 13e arrondissement is the depositary.
When Malraux introduced his 1962 Sectors Bill to members of Parliament, he said, "In our civilization, the future is not opposed to the past; it is resurrected." I would rather say today that he reinvention, in every sense of the word, that is, he rediscovers and creates it at the same time, for posterity.
Thank you.