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Journées Européennes du Patrimoine 2022 in the Vendee

Welcome to the European Heritage days 2022! In the Vendée, that is. The 3rd weekend of September ranks among the best weekends of the year in France! It is the perfect weekend to challenge yourselves with a sprint around our lovely Département du Vendée for the opportunity to visit well-known historical locations and monuments as well as sites that are rarely open to the public, for free or at a reduced rate. How mental the sightseeing tour is entirely up to you. We tend to drive between 300 and 400km in two days, our destinations mapped either in a loop, or chosing a gem farther afield with things to see along the way. Here’s a list of options  in 2022. This year’s theme is sustainable patrimony.The history of the Journées Européennes du Patrimoine or European HeritageThe French Ministry of Culture began the event  La Journée Portes Ouvertes in 1984. In the …

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2021 Journées du Patrimoine Vendée: list of things to see

Welcome to the European Heritage days of 2020! The 3rd weekend of September ranks among the best weekends of the year for us! We challenge ourselves with a spring around our lovely Département du Vendée for the opportunity to visit well-known historical locations and monuments as well as sites that are rarely open to the public, for free or at a reduced rate. Join us for a list of options this year.Historically, how did the Journées Européennes du Patrimoine or European Heritage days begin? The French Ministry of Culture began the event  La Journée Portes Ouvertes in 1984. In the following year, at the 2nd European Conference of Ministers responsible for Architectural Heritage, the French Minister of Culture proposed that the project be internationalised under the European council. The Netherlands joined with their own Open Monumentendag in 1987, followed by Sweden and Ireland in 1989, and Belgium and Scotland in 1990. In 1991 the …

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Journées Européennes du Patrimoine 2021 in the Vendée: exceptional openings!

The European Heritage Days are the most renowned cultural event in which European citizens participate together. Launched in 1985 in France, the Programme has been a joint initiative of the Council of Europe and the European Union since 1999. Make the most of the EUROPEAN HERITAGE DAYS on 18th and 19th SEPTEMBER. This year’s theme is HERITAGE FOR ALL. In this article we highlight interesting locations that are open exceptionally for the occasion, or uniquely provided with a guided tour. What are the Journées Européennes du Patrimoine or European Heritage days? – Created by the Ministry of Culture in 1984, national museums and historic monuments are opened to the public for free or at a reduced rate on the third weekend of September every year. All weekend long, well-organized guided tours, animated demonstrations of old techniques, concerts, theatrical performances, and more, shed a special light on French heritage. Route Planning and Preparation – …

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Sharing Vouvant with the World

I am Marie Vivies. I was born in Fontenay le Comte and I grew up in a rural Vendée village called Antigny. I have always been attracted to the English language, that is why I focused my studies on discovering the working of its mechanisms. I also wanted to discover my own country, so I attended university in various cities around France: Angers, Rennes, Poitiers and Lyon. It was thrilling to experience life in a big city, but the years I spent there also made me realise how deeply I was attached to the Vendée. I taught English for 5 years but something was missing. It took time to understand that teaching English was not making me happy. Practicing it in conversation with people not known to me was more pleasant than explaining the language to youngsters. In fact, what I really liked was making someone discover something during a …

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Connecting people and places

Curious about everything and always sensitive to cultural expressions, I have developed a career path that focuses on heritage, ancient and contemporary art and the performing arts. Much more than a love of “old stones” (I don’t like this expression), attachment to heritage is for me the first step in creating a link between a person and the territory in which he or she is located. My playground is the Vendée, Brittany, Anjou, Charentes or Poitou. it is a permanent curiosity that feeds me wherever I go.My life in heritageI was 14 years old when I took my first guided tour. It was the continuation of a personal investment that started a few years before with archival research outside of school hours. An artist I like very much, Nicolas Schöffer, used to say: “To explain is to involve oneself and others.” It sums up the approach I am trying to apply in my …