Culture Talk

Journées du patrimoine: put it in your calendar for next year

Missed this September? In France (and a lot of Europe, they're called European Heritage Days) there's one weekend a year when buildings normally closed to the public open their doors. Ministries, palaces, old factories, embassies. Free most of the time.

Queues for the famous ones are long, so my strategy is to go for the weird small ones. Last year I visited a water pumping station. Best day of my life, don't laugh.