Heritage Days at the Institut de France – Heritage Days 2024 – Parvis of the Institut de France (opposite the Pont des Arts) – Paris, 75006

Have you always dreamed of entering the Institute and joining the academicians? Of meeting the shadows of Victor Hugo, Simone Veil or Louis Pasteur? Or more simply of pushing open the doors overlooked by the mysterious dome at the other end of the arts footbridge? Come and cross the threshold of the Palais de l’Institut de France! There you will discover the five Academies that work there, the Académie française, the Académie des inscriptions et belles-lettres, the Académie des sciences, the Académie des beaux-arts and the Académie des sciences morales et politiques. You will be able to meet the academicians present and obtain their dedications. You will be dazzled by the beauty of the place, the Mazarine library, the library of the Institut de France, and the meeting rooms of the academicians as well as the Coupole. Your tour will end with the exhibition in homage to Vladimir Veličković at the Pavillon Comtesse de Caen. We will also be happy to share the very rich life of the Institut de France, by presenting to you in particular our bookstore, France Mémoire, the mission responsible for national commemorations, Canal Académies and its thousands of audio broadcasts as well as the educational activities service.

Schedules :
20/09 from 10:00 a.m. to 5:30 p.m.
21/09 from 10:00 a.m. to 5:30 p.m.
22/09 from 10:00 a.m. to 5:30 p.m.

Institut de France – Learn more about the place:In 1793, the Convention abolished the Royal Academies, vestiges of the monarchy. To fill the void left by their abolition, the National Institute of France was created two years later, on October 25, 1795, in application of the Constitution of the Year III which gave it the mission “to collect discoveries, to perfect the arts and sciences”. Minerva, goddess of wisdom, intelligence and reason, became its emblem. First installed in the Louvre, this “parliament of scholars” was transferred in March 1805 by Napoleon I, a member of the Institute, to the former College of the Four Nations. The latter had been created according to the wishes expressed in 1661 by Cardinal Mazarin to welcome young people from the four nations newly annexed by France (Pignerol, Alsace, Artois and Roussillon). Designed by the architect Louis Le Vau, the building is highly original, as evidenced by the half-moon façade overlooking the Seine and the dome of the former chapel, circular on the outside and oval on the inside. It also contains the funerary monument of Mazarin sculpted by Antoine Coysevox. When the Institute was installed in the palace, Antoine Vaudoyer converted the chapel into a meeting room, so that it could accommodate 1,200 people. In the middle of the 19th century, in the second courtyard, the architect Hippolyte Le Bas built a new wing intended for the work of the academies that Louis XVIII had reconstituted: the French Academy, the Academy of Inscriptions & Belles-Lettres, the Academy of Sciences, the Academy of Fine Arts and the Academy of Moral & Political Sciences. The Institut de France and the five Academies that comprise it are legal entities under public law with special status placed under the protection of the President of the Republic. Their mission is to contribute on a non-profit basis to the development and promotion of literature, science and the arts. The Institute is placed under the authority of a chancellor elected for three years. At the same time, the Institut de France is one of the oldest and most prestigious institutions to practice patronage and manage donations and legacies. For two centuries, it has housed foundations and awarded prizes that play an incomparable role in modern patronage. Created by individuals or companies, the Institute’s foundations and prizes benefit from the experience of this centuries-old institution in the fields of patronage and philanthropy, as well as the expertise of academics in all their fields of expertise. In addition, the Institute is the guardian of an important artistic heritage, consisting of exceptional residences and collections that have been bequeathed to it since the end of the 19th century; including: the Château de Chantilly, the Jacquemart-André Museum, the Chaalis Abbey, the Château de Langeais, the Kerazan Manor and the Kérylos Villa. The Palais de l’Institut also houses the Mazarine Library, the oldest public library in France, which preserves the sumptuous decor designed by the architect Pierre Le Muet and installed in the palace in 1668. Its collections of medieval and modern manuscripts, incunabula, rare books, precious bindings and works of art constitute a particularly rich collection in the field of historical sciences. Rich in its past, the Institut de France is resolutely turned towards the future: a 350-seat auditorium was inaugurated this year to allow the academies to better promote their work.
European Heritage Days 2024 – Exceptional opening of the place
In short: : Free visit, Heritage of routes, networks and connections, Free, No reservation, All audiences Address: Institut de France; 23 quai de Conti 75006 Paris Presentation of the event and visual proposed by “Institut de France” as part of the Heritage Days 2024
Source: Ministry of Culture and Communication / journeesdupatrimoine.fr

More events for the European Heritage Days on September 21 and 22 can be found here:
Heritage Days 2024 – Paris and its region