12 million people visited the monuments in France on the Day of Cultural Heritage Sep 22, 2009

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Over 12 million people visited cultural sites in France during the European day of Cultural Heritage last week-end. The total number of sites in France amounted to 15 thousand and some of them are generally unavailable to the public. According to the French mass media, the Elysee Palace in Paris hosted about 21 thousand guests, while the residence of the Prime minister – The Matignon Palace – had somewhere around 5 thousand visitors. On Saturday morning the guests of the Elysee Palace were greeted by president Nicolas Sarcozy. Approximately 28 thousand people visited the house of the Senate, the National Assembly hosted approximately 20 thousand guests, and the ministry of Economics and the Ministry of Culture of France – 2,8 and 6,8 thousand respectively. Approximately 28 thousand people visited the Prefecture Police in Paris and the Paris Fire Department Headquarters.

The famous cabaret Moulin Rouge took part in the Cultural Heritage Days this year for the first time. The back-stage was visited by 1,5 thousand people. The attractions were enjoying considerable demand all across the country. The Palace of Versailles and its adjacent parks were visited by over 45 thousand people. Upper Konigsberg, in Alsace, which was built by the Hohenstaufen dynasty during the rule of the Holy Roman Empire of The German Nation, accepted 7,5 thousand guests. Fort de Joux, built back in the 12th Century and located on the border with Switzerland, was visited by 1,5 thousand people. The Open-Door-Days for the cultural monuments have been conducted since 1984 upon the initiative of minister of culture – Jaques Lang, and as a general rule, occur on the third week-end of September. The initiative for conducting a European Cultural Heritage week-end was approved by the Council of Europe in 1991. And in 1999 the European Commission joined in the efforts.