• After a month-long hiatus, the Machines de l'île are reopening to the general public on February 4.

  • Unlike previous years, no new creatures will be unveiled.

  • The flagship project of Arbre aux hérons, which Nantes Métropole no longer wants to finance, could perhaps see the light of day with private funds.

Ant, boxfish, spider, hummingbird, wild geese, sloth, love parade of birds, chameleon, swarm of butterflies... The many fans of the Machines de l'île had become accustomed to discovering, each year, in February, a new mechanical creature on the occasion of the reopening of the Nantes tourist and cultural site.

This will not be the case this time around.

The Great Elephant, the Carrousel of the Marine Worlds and the Gallery of Machines are reopening their doors to visitors, from Saturday, but in a tormented context, since the renunciation of Nantes Métropole, in September, to finance the ambitious project of Tree of herons.

The management of the Machines has chosen to bet mainly on the "major renovation" of the giant carousel to communicate on its annual return.


“The Carrousel is 11 years old, it is exposed to UV rays, bad weather, it has welcomed nearly 2.5 million visitors, recalls Pierre Oréfice, director of the Machines de l'île.

It was in dire need of major maintenance.

If you take good care of it, it can last a century.

The construction site, which had led to the closure of the carousel for three months last year, had started in 2021 and will be completed this year.

“It would be a mistake not to renew the Gallery”

The Galerie des Machines remains focused on the uncertain prospect of the construction of the Heron Tree.

The fifteen creatures that are presented there are indeed always intended to populate the possible future tree.

“The coherence of the gallery is the Heron Tree.

We are not going to change the story, it would not make sense, ”explains Pierre Oréfice.

It must be said that, if Nantes Métropole finally preferred to turn its back on the Heron Tree, the CCI of Nantes-Saint-Nazaire is trying to save the project with the help of private funds.

"For us, the project is not dead", reaffirms Pierre Oréfice, who does not however wish to say more "for the moment".

A speech by the president of the CCI, Yann Trichard, and the president of the metropolis, Johanna Rolland, could take place at the end of the month, he indicates.



In the meantime, given the vagueness and cooling of relations between the designers of the tree and Nantes Métropole, no new creature has been ordered with the community.

“There is no decision taken at this stage, confirms Pierre Oréfice.

But it would be a serious mistake not to renew the offer in the Gallery and even in the Carrousel.

The nerve of the attractiveness of the site is the renewal of its content.

It is not the ideas that would be lacking, if necessary.

“We always have it in mind.

With François [Delaroizière], we notably thought about a woodpecker.

»

Visitors always there

This strange context does not seem, in any case, to harm the interest that the public has for the Machines de l'île, which remain the tourist engine of the Nantes conurbation.

In 2022, more than 677,000 visitors were counted on the entire site (of which more than half for the Machine Gallery alone), despite the closure for three months of the Carrousel and the persistence of gauges limited by the health situation.

"Without that, we would have broken the 2019 record," said Pierre Oréfice.

Some afternoons, the waiting time at the counters easily exceeds an hour.

To remedy this, and respond to a request from staff, the Machines will open from 10 a.m. during school holidays.

As for the prices, they will increase "due to inflation": the full price goes from 8.50 euros to 9.50 euros for the Gallery and an elephant ride, from 8.50 euros to 9 euros for the Carrousel des mondes marines.

"We hadn't changed the prices since 2017. It was becoming untenable for the budget," explains Pierre Oréfice.

The operation of the Machines de l'île is 80% self-financed.

The additional funding is paid by the metropolis.

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