Presentation
On the occasion of the European Heritage Days on September 21 and 22 2024, the Collège de France opens its doors to you for an exceptional tour of its two sites in the heart of the Latin Quarter. This itinerary will enable you to appreciate the richness and diversity of the heritage and missions of an illustrious establishment, dedicated for five centuries to the advancement of knowledge.
On the Marcelin-Berthelot site, the Collège de France assembly room, where solemn deliberations are held, will be exceptionally open to the public during these days. The public will be able to discover the institution's emblematic furnishings and decor, and meet the Collège de France's professors. The itinerary will also allow visitors to explore the main courtyard of the Collège de France, the art deco rotunda of the physics-chemistry-biology building and the terrace offering a magnificent view of Paris. Books published by The Collège de France Publishing Department will be on sale and signed by their authors. Various souvenir items in the Collège de France colors will be available from the temporary boutique opened for the occasion.
On the Cardinal-Lemoine site, just a few minutes from the Marcelin-Berthelot site, visitors can discover the headquarters of the Institut des Civilisations, recently reopened after seven years of renovation. It brings together all the chairs, laboratories and research libraries of the Collège de France dealing with the great civilizations of the past and the societies studied by anthropology and ethnology. The public will have access to the building's garden level, as well as to the Byzantine and Ottoman libraries. Mini-conferences lasting 30 minutes will be given by Collège de France professors, subject to prior registration, reflecting the variety of fields and research covered by the institution's chairs. Each lecture will be followed by a book signing session. Public readings of excerpts from the Roman d'Alexandre, a collection of the legendary exploits of Alexander the Great, will also be given by students from the Conservatoire national supérieur d'art dramatique. Last but not least, a bookbinding workshop will be open to visitors, who can register to create a notebook and learn about paper-making techniques.
A children's trail, in the form of a booklet-game, will enable visitors to discover the history of the Collège de France through riddles and questions, on the Marcelin-Berthelot site. Families are also invited to discover the Cardinal Lemoine site.
Program and access conditions
Two Collège de France sites are open on Saturday 21 and Sunday 22 September 2024, from 10:00 am to 6:00 pm : the Marcelin-Berthelot site and the Cardinal-Lemoine site.
Marcelin-Berthelot site
11, place Marcelin Berthelot - 75005 Paris
Free-access tour of the site, including the Collège de France assembly hall and access to the roof terrace of the research building.
Meetings with Collège de France professors in the assembly room :
- Saturday 21 September
- 11h00-12h00 : Denis Duboule
- 12h00-13h00 : Dominique Charpin
- 13h00-14h00 : Laurent Coulon
- 14h00-15h00 : Dario Mantovani
- 15h00-16h00 : Alessandro Morbidelli
- 16h00-17h00 : Louis Fensterbank
- Sunday, September 22
- 15h00-16h00 : François Héran
- 15h00-16h00 : François Héran
Signing session (Collège de France roof terrace) :
- Saturday September 21
- 11h00-12h00 : Virginie Courtier
- 12h00-13h00 : Denis Duboule
- 13h00-14h00 : Emmanuelle Porcher
- 14h00-15h00 : William Marx
- 15h00-16h00 : Mathilde Touvier
- 16h00-17h00 : Alessandro Morbidelli
- 17h00-18h00 : Lluis Quintana-Murci
- Sunday, September 22
- 14h00-15h00 : Benoît Peeters
- 16h00-17h00 : François Héran
Cardinal-Lemoine site
52, rue du Cardinal Lemoine - 75005 Paris
Open-access tour of the Institut des Civilisations, including the garden level and the Byzantine and Ottoman libraries.
Public readings of the Roman d'Alexandre.
By Emilie Yili Kang & Séram Borgel, students at the Conservatoire national supérieur d'art dramatique - PSL.
Saturday and Sunday, 2.20pm to 2.50pm and 3.20pm to 3.50pm.
The Roman d'Alexandre in Syriac is a collection of texts centered on the figure of Alexander the Great and written around the 6th century AD in Syria. Recently re-edited by Muriel Debié (Les Belles Lettres), the Roman d'Alexandre takes the main historical episodes in Alexander's life and inserts them into a fabulous, imaginary narrative. This version of the novel is one of eighty versions of the conqueror's extraordinary story, in thirty different languages from Antiquity to the present day.
Bookbinding workshop
Saturday and Sunday at 10:30, 11:30, 14:30, 15:30 and 16:30 (duration 20 minutes), without reservation.
Making a bound notebook, for children aged 4 and over.
Mini-lectures by Collège de France professors (30 minutes) and book signings, available on prior registration :
- Saturday 21 September
- 10h00-11h00 : Hugues de Thé, Gene and protein networks in leukemogenesis and therapeutic response
- 11h00-12h00 : Denis Knoepfler, Une entreprise patrimoniale sous l'Empire romain : la Description de la Grèce par Pausanias à la lumière de ses voyages à travers la Béotie
- 12h00-13h00 : Henry Laurens, Lawrence of Arabia
- 1:00-2:00 pm : Jean-Luc Fournet, Itinéraires du papyrus : the odyssey of a material that changed the Mediterranean world
- 2:00 pm - 3:00 pm : Dominique Charpin, The Code of Hammurabi : an essential monument
- 3:00-4:00 pm : Laurent Coulon, Travelling throughEgyptvia the network of Osirian buildings at Karnak
- 4:00 pm - 5:00 pm : Dario Mantovani, Do animals have rights ? The Roman answer to a contemporary question
- 17h00-18h00 : Thomas Römer, Bible and violence
- Sunday 22 September
- 14h00-15h00 : Patrick Boucheron, At the bottom of the unknown to find the new ? Medieval worlds, urban networks and distant connections
- 15h00-16h00 : Jean-Noël Robert, Japanese Buddhist monks in Tibet and Mongolia in the 20th century (1905-1945)
- 16h00-17h00 : Gérard Berry, Networks of all kinds, great heritage spaces
The administrator, professors and staff of the Collège de France look forward to welcoming you in large numbers on these days of discovery of a national place of memory, whose missions of fundamental research and dissemination of knowledge to all, all year round, without conditions of access or qualification, constitute a vocation unique in the world, perfectly illustrated by the ambition of opening up and sharing the European Heritage Days.
