Every September, doors open across France that are rarely accessible to the public. Historic residences, government buildings, museums, religious sites, gardens, workshops, places of memory, and monuments welcome visitors for a weekend of tours, performances, demonstrations, and discovery.
These are the Journées européennes du patrimoine, or European Heritage Days, one of Europe’s largest celebrations of cultural heritage. Launched by the Council of Europe in 1985 and now celebrated in more than 50 countries, the initiative invites people to explore the places, traditions, and stories that have shaped them.
In France, the event is celebrated annually on the third weekend of September. The 2026 edition will take place September 19 and 20, with nearly 30,000 events across the country allowing visitors to explore thousands of sites through guided tours, exhibitions, concerts, workshops, and more.
This year, the celebrations focus on the preservation of endangered heritage, drawing attention to the many forms of heritage that face growing challenges, from historic buildings and landscapes to traditional crafts, knowledge, and cultural practices. Climate change, urban development, changing ways of life, and the gradual disappearance of certain skills can all place heritage at risk.
The weekend is a reminder that heritage is not simply something we inherit, but something we have a shared responsibility to care for and pass on.
How French Heritage brings the US and France together
Heritage is often thought of as a château, a cathedral, or a work of art. But heritage is more than the buildings and objects that survive from the past – it also encompasses the skills used to make them, the traditions passed from one generation to the next, the landscapes and ecosystems that sustain us, and the stories and memories attached to particular places.
In France, this heritage has not only shaped the people and places there, but has deeply touched those across the Atlantic. For generations, Americans have traveled to France to encounter its architecture, art, gardens, craftsmanship, cuisine, landscapes, and traditions. They have studied in its museums and universities, walked through its historic cities, visited its châteaux, and came back home with memories of places that became part of their own stories.
For many, the places, practices, and philosophies they discovered became deeply important to them, and moved them to give back, helping ensure others could experience them as well.
American support for French heritage is not a new phenomenon. In the 1920s, American philanthropist John D. Rockefeller Jr. became one of the most prominent early examples, contributing millions of dollars to restoration efforts at Versailles, Fontainebleau, and Reims Cathedral after the devastation of World War I. His support reflected a belief that these places belonged not only to France, but to a cultural heritage with significance far beyond national borders.
That tradition has continued in many forms. When Notre Dame burned in 2019, Americans joined France in mourning an enduring symbol of beauty, history, and inspiration that felt as personal to them as one of their own. They joined the movement to restore the Cathedral, and ultimately accounted for the most generous group outside of France to support the restoration.
Today, US supporters continue to champion French and European heritage, including those that celebrate our shared history and friendship, like the Monumental Game of Goose, a larger-than-life art installation supported by Association Allyance and created by artists Gwendoline Finaz de Villaine and Pauline Lévêque. The installation features iconic French and American landmarks and symbols beautifully integrated in an interactive gameboard. After a successful edition on Madison Avenue in New York for Bastille Day, the Game is coming to Trocadéro square in Paris on September 19th in celebration of the European Heritage Days.
That support also points to something important about heritage: people do not support its preservation simply because it is historic, they support it because of what it represents: from centuries of religious and artistic history to preserving ways of understanding the relationship between people and nature and expert knowledge that exists nowhere else.
Heritage is ultimately about connection: to a place, to a culture, to other people, and to the generations who came before us and will come after us.
Preserving What Matters
Protecting this heritage requires more than laws or formal designations. It requires people who recognize its value and are willing to invest time, knowledge, and resources in carrying it forward.
At Friends of Fondation de France, we see this commitment across a wide range of French nonprofit projects supported by U.S. donors. Some focus on historic buildings and cultural sites. Others preserve traditional craftsmanship, protect landscapes, support artistic and cultural practices, or ensure that knowledge can be passed on to future generations.
Through Friends of Fondation de France, U.S.-based donors can make tax-deductible gifts to trusted, pre-approved French nonprofit organizations working to preserve and share this heritage. Explore our projects and join us in helping to ensure shared heritage can continue to inspire further generations.
Several of our nonprofit partners are taking part in this year’s Journées européennes du patrimoine. Here’s a non-exhaustive look at some of the FFdF-supported sites, monuments, and institutions opening their doors on September 19–20:
Explore French Arts, Culture & Heritage
La Chartreuse de Neuville – Discover a heritage-craft artisans’ village, the monastery’s gardens with its own gardening team, a working 1870s Carthusian printing press, and an aerial façade performance.
Établissement Public du Mont Saint-Michel – Free entry to the Benedictine Abbey, waived every year on JEP weekend.
Musée Rodin – Free access to the Rodin Museum’s Meudon site, with a family picnic, quiz, and workshops.
Réunion des musées nationaux – Grand Palais (GrandPalaisRmn) – A family visit and game inside the Grand Palais.
Manufactures Nationales – Sèvres & Mobilier national – Restoration workshops and reserves holding one of the world’s richest furniture collections, plus 400 years of Gobelins/Beauvais/Savonnerie craftsmanship.
Mémorial de Verdun – Champ de bataille – Free entry to the Mémorial, Fort de Douaumont, and Fort de Vaux, with guided and costumed storytelling tours.
Établissement Public Paris Musées – Guided tours of Musée Carnavalet’s collections, part of a network of 12 City of Paris museums and 2 heritage sites.
Société des Amis des Musées de Dijon (SAMD) – Free self-guided visit of the Musée des Beaux-Arts de Dijon, inside the Palais des ducs et des États de Bourgogne.
Association des Climats de Bourgogne – A multisensory tour of the UNESCO-listed Climats of Burgundy at the Cité des Climats et Vins in Beaune and Chablis, with tastings included.
Association (Loi 1901) Allyance – The Monumental Goose Game: a 200 m² participatory street-art fresco at the Trocadéro on September 19, celebrating French-American friendship.
l’AiR Arts – Atelier 11 – A living 19th-century artist studio in Montparnasse opening its doors to celebrate heritage at risk, featuring works by artists in residence and a historic space that has welcomed generations of creative practitioners since 1875.
Musée de Cluny – Musée national du Moyen Âge – An immersion into medieval and antique collections inside the Gallo-Roman baths and the Hôtel des abbés de Cluny.
Association des Amis de la Bibliothèque nationale de France – All BnF sites open, including the historic Richelieu site (Salle Ovale, Galerie Mazarin) and restoration-workshop visits at François-Mitterrand.
Fondation Royaumont – Guided tours of the 800-year-old Royaumont Abbey and its gardens.
FARMO (Musées d’Orsay et de l’Orangerie) – A family sketching tour and a guided tour on the history of the former railway station turned museum.
Cité de la Musique – Philharmonie de Paris – Free self-guided visit of the Musée de la musique’s nearly 9,000-instrument collection.
AROSS – A presentation of the Cavaillé-Coll grand organ at Église Saint-Sulpice.
Discover the Heritage of French Educational Excellence
Fondation Mines Paris – The historic Hôtel de Vendôme, with its Mineralogy Museum and library.
Université Paris 1 Panthéon-Sorbonne – The Centre Panthéon, Soufflot’s 1773 building, normally closed to the public.
ENS Paris-Saclay – A guided tour of Renzo Piano’s 2020 campus building.
University and University Hospitals of Strasbourg Foundation – A living-heritage visit of the University’s Botanical Garden, home to over 5,500 plant species across 3.5 hectares in the heart of Strasbourg.
