Tuesday, September 15, 2015

European Heritage Days September 19-20th, 2015

Each year, many listed and interesting buildings are opened to the public as part of the European Heritage Days or Journée du Patrimoine.  The dates for 2015 are the 19th and 20th of September and the national theme is "The heritage of the 20st century, the history of the future".



On September 19th and 20th more than 17,000 monuments all over the country will open their doors free of charge and offer different types of animations to entertain and educate the general public.  You can obtain details of specific events on your area on your local newspaper and tourist office.

As a family, we usually take advantage of these Journées du Patrimoine to visit the sites in our area.  Through the years, we have visited many sites and there are still many others that we haven't had the time yet to visit.  Most of the time we have been pleasantly surprised at our findings like when we visited Chateau Guillaume a magnificent castle in the near town of Lignac.  Other times, to be truthful, we were less than happy with the place we visited as it was either too small, uninteresting or just not welcoming.  Overall, I can say that this initiative to open monuments free of charge to the general public is fantastic.  We always wait eagerly for the next Journée du Patrimoine.

Chateau Guillaume

If you happen to be in Paris this weekend, for the Heritage Days, Paris’ City Hall (Hôtel de Ville) will exceptionally open its doors to the public. A chance to discover this building and have a look at the mayor’s office for free!