With more than 12 million visitors, the European Heritage Days, which took place this weekend, confirm once again their success with the public. For this 33rd edition, the theme of which was «Heritage and Citizenship», visitors have visited the symbolic places of the birth of citizenship, in the historical sites of its construction and in the contemporary places of its daily exercise.
With 17,000 sites open, 26,000 events and 4,700 openings specifically related to this year’s theme, this success illustrates the French capacity to make a body around this living heritage, the foundation of citizenship, shared by all, accessible to all. Heritage also carries a vision of the future, the project of a collective destiny.
The exhibition «Monuments of citizenship», hosted by the Ministry of Culture and Communication, brought together for the first time the founding texts of our Republic from the collections of the National Archives, from the Declaration of the Rights of Man and the Citizen to the law abolishing the death penalty, compared with other archives, notably sound and audiovisual from the National Audiovisual Institute.
Audrey Azoulay, Minister of Culture and Communication, wishes to thank in particular the partners of the operation, as well as all the actors, public and private owners, associations that have opened their doors and managed to set up the best conditions of reception and visit for the public.