Good plan alert! The Journées du Patrimoine return to Paris and the Île-de-France region on the weekend of September 21 and 22, 2024, for an exciting 41st edition! Each year, this cultural event invites us to rediscover our heritage in a new light, through a special program of visits and events all over Europe. In the Paris region, museums, monuments, castles and even places inaccessible to the public are playing their part in this exceptional weekend!
The Journées du Patrimoine are a unique opportunity to discover the treasures that make up our heritage. And why not take the opportunity to discover the heritage of the major cities in the Ile-de-France region? Paris is always in the spotlight, but the surrounding region also has plenty to surprise you! Among the major towns accessible by public transport is Créteil, in the Val-de-Marne region. The town is taking part in the Journées du Patrimoine (Heritage Days ), unveiling a varied program for this exceptional weekend! Perfect for discovering Créteil from another angle!
Heritage Days 2024 at the Val-de-Marne departmental archives in Créteil
Where do archives come from? Why and how are they preserved? What types of documents do they contain? These are just some of the questions that will be addressed in the form of a fun exhibition, games or workshops in the new Archives exhibition.
During workshops, children can answer riddles by handling archive reproductions, discover archives by touch (mystery box), play Mission Archives games, puzzles and memory games.
As you stroll through areas usually reserved for archivists, you'll discover the different professions involved in archives, from the moment a document is received to the moment it is made available to the public.
Reconstruction of a model of the 1970s Archives Départementales du Val-de-Marne building
Heritage Days 2024 at Saint-Christophe church in Créteil
Since the 11th century, this bell tower has dominated the crossroads of two roads whose necessity for travel and trade has never ceased to grow. Visible to all, it nevertheless keeps signs, objects and testimonials linked to the history of both the church and the town well hidden in and behind its stones.
Why is it called a dungeon bell tower? Isn't it rather high for a village church? What else is housed in its three storeys? and many other questions, the answers to which will be revealed as you climb the bell tower.
The second floor is reached via the stone staircase in the turret, but the other floors are only accessible by ladder. Space is limited, which explains the low number of visitors per session (10). Not recommended for those prone to vertigo.
As you pass through the Romanesque porch that has dominated the crossroads for eleven centuries, you'll see the upper church (excluding the crypt and bell tower).
A map of the church showing where the QR codes are located will be at your disposal on the right as you enter.
You'll now be able to discover the particularities of the construction of this Romanesque church, of which only the chancel is Gothic, get acquainted with the 14th-century sculptures or start reading the stained glass windows in the flat chevet...
Access to the crypt is via a staircase in the south aisle, level with the choir.
Probably dating from the late 10th century, and reworked in the Romanesque period, the crypt was "covered" by the Gothic choir in the 12th century, when the church was enlarged.
Beneath the altar stone are the reliquaries of the martyrs Agoard and Aglibert and their companions.
Heritage Days 2024 at Créteil Cathedral
Créteil Cathedral will open its doors, and the reception team, along with members of the Chemin des Arts en Val-de-Marne association, will welcome you for a guided or self-guided tour of the cathedral and its cultural space, where the diocesan heritage exhibition entitled "Saints et Saintes" awaits you.
Heritage Days 2024 at the Créteil Rescue Center - Brigade de Sapeurs-Pompiers de Paris
Discover this atypical building designed specifically to accommodate the activities of the fire department.
Designed by Nicolas Le Maresquier in 1976, the Créteil Fire Station is part of the Nouveau Créteil development of the 1970s.
Although less well known than other buildings in Créteil, the fire station is nevertheless just as interesting in its aesthetic and formal research.
The firefighters of the 17th Fire and Rescue Company - Brigade de sapeurs-pompiers de Paris - open the doors of their barracks and show you their profession, their environment and their equipment.
Guided tour by Sabrina Kara architect from the CAUE du Val-de-Marne, a visit offered by the City of Créteil in partnership with the 17th Fire and Rescue Company - Brigade de sapeurs-pompiers de Paris.
Heritage Days 2024 at the dovecote in Créteil
Self-guided tour with exhibition; screenings around 3:00 pm and at 4:00 pm and 5:00 pm.
The upper room, once reserved for the pigeons, will transport you into the past of the Dovecote after climbing the few steps of the staircase cut into the wall.
At your own pace, you can discover the "three lives" of the Dovecote:
- that of a seigniorial dovecote, from 1375 to the Revolution,
- that of a farm building, forgotten, threatened, finally spared but moved,
- that of a listed and restored monument, open to the 21st century, and determined to last.
You'll be able to appreciate the details of the identical restoration carried out in the 80s.
This visit has always elicited numerous reactions and questions from visitors on the contemporary history of Le Colombier: its belated classification, its risky relocation, the choice of its current location.......
The exhibition also looks at the Dovecote's present: the attention and interest it attracts, the value it represents through its history.
Finally, in the lower room, you'll find the "La ronde des boulins" montage.
In the midst of the buildings, a strange stone tower rises up, as if someone had put it there without the inhabitants knowing. We invite you to come and discover Créteil's medieval dovecote during a guided tour, whose stories will transport you back to 1375 and bring to life the history of this unique building and of the commune.
A tour offered by the City of Créteil in partnership with the association Les amis de Créteil.
Heritage Days 2024 in Créteil, visit circuit
Let yourself be carried away on a storytelling walk through the history of Créteil from the Neolithic to the present day. For two hours, a storyteller will introduce you to the history of Créteil and the people who have lived here through the ages.
From the village church to the 14th-century Colombier, from cobbled streets to the gentle, tree-lined banks of the Marne, this stroll will take you where you least expect to find history, in the hidden corners of the old town and behind the ordinary scenes of Créteil's old town.
Visit with surprises!
Offered by the City of Créteil in partnership with the Association Les Amis de Créteil, this tour will be narrated by Lucile Juteau (La Boîte à Histoire) with the participation of Antoine Raffali and Naïs El Fassi.
This tour of the Palais district, also known as the Choux district, built by architect Gérard Grandval in the 1970s, will be led by local residents who have been trained in architecture during a dozen workshops with architects from the CAUE.
The tour will start at the entrance to the district, on the esplanade de la faculté, and end in front of the Charles Péguy school.
The guides will be keen to show you places they have known and worked in personally for years. They'll share with you their view of the distinctive architecture of the Choux district, with its flower-petal balconies and rounded streets, as well as their own personal view of the area.
The "Suivez les Guides" project is run by APES, an association of landlords. In partnership with the Conseil d'Architecture, d'Urbanisme et de l'Environnement du Val-de-Marne.
Heritage Days 2024 at the Pointe du Lac in Créteil
Take a birdwatching tour around Lac de Créteil and meet the many birds that frequent it
This lake is much wilder than you might think, with its wooded lawns and reedbeds.
The reedbeds that border the lake provide a peaceful nesting place for waterbirds such as the coot, moorhen and great crested grebe.
A small passerine, the red warbler, also nests here.
birds such as robins, blackbirds, chattering magpies and crows are easy to spot!
Remarkable species such as kingfishers and Little Bitterns (a small heron very rare in Ile-de-France) can be spotted with a little luckDuration: 2h00
Activity organized by Sébastien - Birdwatching Guide
Info and booking on EcoNature: https: //www.eco-nature.org/experience/d-1
Heritage Days 2024 at the Hôtel de Ville
Come and discover the modern architecture of Créteil's Hôtel de Ville, inaugurated 50 years ago to house the city's services, now the capital of the département. Designed by architect Pierre Dufau, the building's original silhouette is a veritable feat of engineering, with an eleven-storey tower built on former sand quarries. Sign up to learn more about one of the first buildings to be constructed as part of the Nouveau Créteil program.
During this guided tour, you'll have access to the council chamber and the marriage hall, decorated by Michel Boyer in a style characteristic of the "trente glorieuses" period. You'll also be able to enjoy one of the finest views of the city from the roof terrace (subject to availability)!
Heritage Days 2024 at the Maison des Arts et de la Culture
Take a birdwatching tour around Lac de Créteil and meet the many birds that frequent it
This lake is much wilder than you might think, with its wooded lawns and reedbeds.
The reedbeds that border the lake provide a peaceful nesting place for waterbirds such as the coot, moorhen and great crested grebe.
A small passerine, the red warbler, also nests here.
birds such as robins, blackbirds, chattering magpies and crows are easy to spot!
Remarkable species such as kingfishers and Little Bitterns (a small heron very rare in Ile-de-France) can be spotted with a little luckDuration: 2h00
Activity organized by Sébastien - Birdwatching Guide
Info and booking on EcoNature: https: //www.eco-nature.org/experience/d-1
How do you link architecture, dance and painting? This is the challenge taken up by Fragment d'Elles artistic director Eléonore Dugué and dancer François Auger in an adapted version of the show Fragments d'Elles for the European Heritage Days.
A multi-disciplinary work, this show explores an intimate theme common to all the arts: the surges of inspiration and doubts that litter the creative process. It thus echoes the architecture of the Maison des Arts et de la Culture, a facility inaugurated in 1975 to accommodate theater, music, dance, film and the visual arts without distinction.
Offered by the Maison des Arts et de la Culture de Créteil and the City of Créteil, this tour takes you through the spaces imagined by architect Jean Fougeron for this Nouveau Créteil facility inaugurated in 1975.
It's an opportunity to discover or rediscover this astonishing modern building and its concrete facade decorated by Jean-Pierre Vasarely (known as Yvaral), restored in 2023, right up to the backstage area of the national stage.
Heritage Days 2024 at the Maison du Combattant
You're invited to the former council and marriage rooms of the former Hôtel de Ville, now Maison du Combattant, for an introductory watercolour workshop.
Accompanied by a professional artist, admire Eugène Simas's large-scale canvases depicting the village of Créteil in the 19th century. Then be inspired to create your own postcard in tribute to Créteil and the Val-de-Marne!
A workshop offered by the City of Créteil in partnership with the association Les amis de Créteil.
Heritage Days 2024 at the Nelson Mandela Abbey media library
L'architecture des grands ensembles.
For children aged 7 and over.
As part of the European Heritage Days, the CAUE du Val-de-Marne and the city of Créteil are offering a fun and educational opportunity to learn about the architecture of "grands ensembles".
Children can discover the innovative ideas and architectural principles behind the term "grands ensembles".
How were they built and why? In Créteil, Mont Mesly is a prime example. Children will be invited to design and build a scale model of a housing estate in the image of the "grands ensembles".
Dates and Opening Time
From September 21, 2024 to September 22, 2024
Location
Créteil
1 Place Salvador Allende
94000 Creteil
Official website
www.ville-creteil.fr
