Journées du Patrimoine 2024: a rich program at the Institut du Monde Arabe (IMA) in Paris

For the Journées du Patrimoine et du Matrimoine 2024 in Paris, head to the Institut du Monde Arabe on Saturday September 21 and Sunday September 22 for free events.

Every year, the Journées du Patrimoine (Heritage Days ) are an opportunity to push open the doors of numerous museums and monuments in Paris and the Ile-de-France region, and explore the incredible collections housed in these cultural venues that are such a rich part of our country. This year, the Journées du Patrimoine celebrate their 41st edition on Saturday September 21 and Sunday September 22, 2024.

Heritage Days: history, origins and dates 2025 of this key cultural event
The European Heritage Days return on Saturday September 20 and Sunday September 21, 2025, with a new theme. Although the cultural event is celebrating its 42nd edition this year, few people actually know the origins of this not-to-be-missed back-to-school event. We'd like to tell you about the history of the Journées du Patrimoine, created in 1984 by the French Ministry of Culture. [Read more]

Journées du Patrimoine 2024 in Paris (75): schedule of visits by arrondissement
For the Journées du Patrimoine 2024 in Paris, the capital's monuments and historic landmarks are opening their doors (often free of charge) to let us in on their secrets. Don't miss this not-to-be-missed event, scheduled for the weekend of September 21 and 22, 2024, on the themes of "Heritage of routes, networks and connections" and "Maritime heritage". [Read more]

In 2024, theInstitut du Monde Arabe will be taking part in the Journées du Patrimoine on September 21 and 22. Opened in 1987 in the 5th arrondissement, this sublime museum has become one of the capital's must-see places for a better understanding of the Arab language and culture, thanks to concerts, comedy festivals, conferences, temporary exhibitions that are both educational and topical, and permanent collections. This multidisciplinary venue spotlights artists from the Arab world, and creates a cultural bridge between Europe, France and the Arab world.

TheInstitut du Monde Arabe (Arab World Institute ), a favorite of Parisians and curious visitors of all kinds, is once again offering a rich program of free events for the Journées du Patrimoine (Heritage Days). Find out what's on during this cultural weekend in Paris.

Heritage Days 2024 at the Institut du Monde Arabe :

Saturday, September 21 and Sunday, September 22

Museum exhibition: Baghdad: rediscovering Madinat al-Salam, with Assassin's Creed® Mirage
Museum (level 5, access via level 7)
The "Baghdad: rediscovering Madinat al-Salam, with Assassin's Creed Mirage" exhibition highlights a captivating historical period, an essential geographical area and a brilliant civilization. Thanks to a wealth of Abbasid-period artefacts set against the backdrops imagined by the teams behind Assassin's Creed Mirage, the latest in Ubisoft's video game series, it reveals the splendour of a world-city at the height of its golden age.
ARABOFUTURS - Science fiction and new imaginaries
Exhibition halls (levels -1 and -2)
Video artists, visual artists, photographers, performers...: Arab and diaspora artists are seizing on anticipation and science fiction to question and transgress today's societies and dream of tomorrow's worlds. To introduce visitors to this marvellous and dynamic laboratory of hypotheses, the contemporary art exhibition ARABOFUTURS brings together works by 17 of these artists and as many experiences, testimonies and views of the world.

Saturday, September 21st

11am - Lecture I The bee, humanity's heritage
Rdv in front of the RDC checkroom at 10:45am
Can we even imagine what humanity's heritage owes to bees? Find out just how much they have contributed to mankind, enriching nature and biodiversity immeasurably, as well as their cultural contribution to all civilizations.
11:30am - Creative workshop I The chimera laboratory
As part of the ARABOFUTURS exhibition
Rdv at the group reception
Duration: 2h - Free on reservation, subject to availability
Fantasy and science-fiction stories from the Arab world are peopled with mythical beings: djinns, fairies, giant snakes, dragons and other hybrid creatures. All nourish our imaginations and question our own humanity. They have inspired the artists featured in "ARABOFUTURS science-fiction et nouveaux imaginaires", who continue this tradition of fantastic tales in their work. After a guided tour of the exhibition, participants will collage elements of artworks, animals and plants to create their own hybrid creature.
2:30, 3:30 and 4:30 pm - Guided mini-tour of the ARABOFUTURS exhibition
As part of the ARABOFUTURS exhibition
Rdv at the group reception
Duration : 30 min - Free with reservation, subject to availability
Since the first decade of the 2000s, Arab and diaspora artists have been using anticipation and science fiction to question and transgress today's societies, and to dream the worlds of tomorrow.
15h - Promenade-conférence| Le Paris arabe historique
Rdv à l'accueil des groupes
Duration: 3h - Free on reservation, subject to availability
This conference tour in the 5th arrondissement gives an idea of the special links between the Arab world and France. The IMA is the starting point for the walk, which continues past the Collège de France and the Sorbonne, then past the Saint-Julien-le-Pauvre church, and ends at the Paris Mosque.
4pm - Conference | Gaza: heritage in danger. Intiqal, a humanitarian and citizen initiative to transmit and save it
Library - Level 1
The NGO Première urgence internationale has set up the Intiqal initiative - "transmission" in Arabic - on various archaeological sites in the Gaza Strip. This program involves universities and local civil society players. It offers students the chance to learn and become a positive force for heritage protection and socio-economic development. Lecture by René Elter, archaeologist, scientific coordinator of the Intiqal program for the NGO Première Urgence Internationale, director of the scientific and preservation program at the Saint-Hilarion monastery in Gaza, associate researcher at the École Biblique et Archéologique Française in Jerusalem and at the Institut Français du Proche-Orient.

Sunday, September 18

11am - Lecture I The bee, humanity's heritage
Rdv in front of the RDC checkroom at 10:45am
Can we even imagine what humanity's heritage owes to bees? Find out just how much they have contributed to mankind, enriching nature and biodiversity immeasurably, as well as their cultural contribution to all civilizations.
11 a.m. and 3:30 p.m. - Scented guided tour I The Thousand and One Nights
Museum, Rdv in front of the RDC checkroom
Duration: 2h - Free on reservation, subject to availability
Let yourself be guided into the wonderful world of the tales of the Thousand and One Nights on an olfactory guided tour of the museum's collections. Accompanied by a lecturer and a perfumer, immerse yourself in the stories of Scheherazade and let your senses transport you to well-known and more secret tales.
2:30pm-3:30pm and 4pm-5pm - Workshop | Introductory course in Arabic [adultes]
Language Center (level 1)
Come and discover a great living language, in its most common variant, known as "Literal Arabic" or "Modern Standard Arabic". Common to the 22 countries of the League of Arab States, it is also one of the six official languages of the United Nations, and the fourth most widely spoken on the Internet. You can ask questions about the other variants of the language, namely the dialects of the various Arab countries, which are also taught at the IMA. In an environment entirely dedicated to Arabic culture, you'll discover an attractive, secular and fun way to learn the language, with a focus on communication and a very small class size to encourage progress.
2.30pm - Workshop| Carnet de voyage: Sur les routes de l'encens
Museum, meet at group reception
Duration: 2h - Free with reservation, subject to availability
Participants create a notebook for an imaginary journey along the ancient incense routes. At each stop, they'll take notes and draw the wonders they've admired along the way. Each participant will return home with a beautiful travel journal as a souvenir of his or her journey.
4:30 pm - Concert | De chant et de terre
Museum (level 6)
Free with reservation, subject to availability
A unique artistic concert featuring a set of large, sonorous ceramics... Percussionist Lou Renaud Bailly brings these bowls to life with her magical fingers, evoking rich, complex sounds from far-off lands, and soprano Camille Joutard's infinitely nuanced voice dialogues and improvises on texts by Taos Amrouche and Federico Garcia Lorca. They will call upon traditional songs and learned music from around the Mediterranean, invoking Italian or Arabo-Andalusian melodies, Sephardic songs or the figures of Maurice Ohana, Manuel De Falla and Hildegarde Von Bingen...
Bookshop
The IMA bookshop is open every day except Monday, from 10am to 7pm.
Come and discover THE reference bookshop on the Arab and Mediterranean world, with 11,000 titles in French, Arabic and English, including a unique collection of almost 2,500 titles in Arabic. It's also a showcase for children's publishing in French, Arabic and bilingual, and a boutique offering a wide range of handicrafts, stationery and related products.
Take a gourmet break at Café littéraire!
Join us in the Institut du monde arabe's tearoom (first floor) for fresh drinks, coffee, mint tea, oriental pastries, Moroccan crêpes, orange and cinnamon salads... Everyone is welcome! Marhaba bikom!