OUR HISTORY, OUR VALUES

WHAT IS THE CENTRE DES MONUMENTS NATIONAUX?

A one-hundred-year-old establishment, heir of the Caisse nationale des monuments historiques et préhistoriques created in 1914, the Centre des Monuments Nationaux is a public institution under the Ministry of Culture and Communication.

The institution's basic missions

The French Heritage Code entrusts the CMN with three complementary missions: the conservation of historic buildings and their collections, the dissemination of knowledge and their presentation to the wider public, the development of their frequentation and use. In exercising these missions the CMN upholds three basic standards:

Respect for heritage (monuments, collections, parks and green spaces) and a constant concern for its transmission to future generations;

Sharing with all audiences and the desire to make heritage accessible to as many people as possible by all appropriate means;

The desire for the monuments to serve the cultural, economic and social development of the regions.

The institution's operating principles

From the outset, the monuments entrusted to the administration of the CMN operate in a network, according to two principles: the principle of total financial equalisation of resources (revenue generated by a given monument is paid into the budget of the institution that distributes all the credits to the different monuments of the network according to their needs); an organising principle based on shared projects and resources and sharing skills.

The CMN, leading integrated heritage operator

The CMN, since being responsible for the conservation and restoration of monuments and collections, has become an integrated operator, responsible for the entire chain of conservation, presentation and promotion of the monuments understood as complex heritage sites (buildings, collections, green spaces). Thanks to a constant standard of professionalism, quality of service provided to users and to the monuments themselves, an integrated approach to monuments, i.e. taking into account the points of views of the heritage, its region and its various audiences, and a concern for innovation in all areas of its activity, the CMN is the leading French operator in the field of heritage.