Heritage Days: what can we visit despite the coronavirus epidemic?

Virtual or canceled visits in several large cities: European Heritage Days, very popular with French people who like to discover castles, gardens and sites usually inaccessible each autumn, will be held this weekend in a minor mode, with limited gauges, coronavirus obliges.

>> Find Laure Dautriche's History and Heritage chronicles in podcast and replay here 

1,500 events canceled in 400 locations

Some 13,000 sites with 20,000 events will open to the public in France during this 37th edition, which has chosen "Heritage and education: learning for life!" As its theme.

For around 20% of these events, visitors must have reserved their seats in advance on the internet, due to established gauges, which vary greatly depending on the size of the venue.

1,500 events had to be canceled in 400 places.

The densely populated department of Bouches-du-Rhône, Guadeloupe, the Lille metropolis, Nice, Bordeaux, Saint-Etienne, Firminy, Ajaccio, Maubeuge, Dunkirk, Boulogne ... The list has grown in recent days, the prefectures and municipalities having had to give up opening their monuments due to the increase in contamination.

Twelve million visitors had flocked to 18,000 sites in France in each of the past four years.

This year, no one expects such a success for an autumnal event usually acclaimed by the French.

Unusual sites open to visitors everywhere in France

But if their number is more limited than last year, a wide range of unusual sites are on offer to visit: from the artist's studio at the Bateau-Lavoir in Paris to the Auberge des Dauphins, an architectural replica of the Petit Trianon in the Drôme.

From the Art Deco store of the Nouvelles Galeries de Saint-Quentin in Aisne to the old circular prison of Autun in Burgundy.

From the water reservoir in Lorient in Brittany, built in the shape of a cathedral, to the Jean Prouvé de Nancy dismantling house ... In front of Notre-Dame under construction, carpenters will also show their skills to the public. 

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In Paris, many monuments will have their access conditions reduced, or will be visited according to strictly marked and guided circuits, such as at the Palais Royal.

The Hotel Matignon, residence of Prime Minister Jean Castex, and several other mansions housing ministries will be open to visitors previously registered within the narrow limit of available places.

Virtual experiences at Notre-Dame or at the Elysée

But this year, the public will be able to console themselves by replacing or supplementing their "physical" visits with virtual experiences in around a hundred sites.

On Facebook and Instagram, it will be possible to go on an excursion for 45 minutes on Saturday inside the Notre-Dame reconstruction site.

Visits to the Elysée Palace lounges can also be done virtually, except for the lucky few (125 people per half hour) who have been able to book in time.

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At the RATP as at the SNCF, no more visits on the trains and in the most improbable stations.

RATP offers "a 100% digital offer" with 25 video and sound clips on its "Welcome aboard" platform.

It will thus be possible to virtually board the first wooden metro of the 1900s. The SNCF invites the public, from their sofa, on board the Orient Express or for a guided tour of the Gare de Lyon clock.

Its own museum, the Cité du train in Mulhouse, in the Haut-Rhin, will remain open.