The Ministry of Culture (french: Ministère de la Culture) is the ministry of the

Government of France The Government of France ( French: ''Gouvernement français''), officially the Government of the French Republic (''Gouvernement de la République française'' ), exercises executive power in France. It is composed of the Prime Minister, who ...

in charge of national museums and the . Its goal is to maintain the French identity through the promotion and protection of the arts (visual, plastic, theatrical, musical, dance, architectural, literary, televisual and cinematographic) on national soil and abroad. Its budget is mainly dedicated to the management of the (six national sites and hundred decentralised storage facilities) and the regional (culture centres). Its main office is in the in the

1st arrondissement of Paris The 1st arrondissement of Paris (''Ier arrondissement'') is one of the 20 arrondissements of the capital city of France. In spoken French, this arrondissement is colloquially referred to as ''le premier'' (the first). It is governed locally toge ...

on the . It is headed by the Minister of Culture, a cabinet member. The current officeholder has been since 20 May 2022.

History

Deriving from the Italian and

Burgundian Burgundian can refer to any of the following: *Someone or something from Burgundy. *Burgundians, an East Germanic tribe, who first appear in history in South East Europe. Later Burgundians colonised the area of Gaul that is now known as Burgundy (F ...

courts of the Renaissance, the notion that the state had a key role to play in the sponsoring of artistic production and that the arts were linked to national prestige was found in France from at least the 16th century on. During the pre-revolutionary period, these ideas are apparent in such things as the creation of the

Académie française An academy (Attic Greek: Ἀκαδήμεια; Koine Greek Ἀκαδημία) is an institution of secondary education, secondary or tertiary education, tertiary higher education, higher learning (and generally also research or honorary membershi ...

, the Académie de peinture et de sculpture and other state-sponsored institutions of artistic production, and through the cultural policies of Louis XIV's minister

Jean-Baptiste Colbert Jean-Baptiste Colbert (; 29 August 1619 – 6 September 1683) was a French statesman who served as First Minister of State from 1661 until his death in 1683 under the rule of King Louis XIV. His lasting impact on the organization of the countr ...

. The modern post of Minister of Culture was created by

Charles de Gaulle Charles André Joseph Marie de Gaulle (; ; (commonly abbreviated as CDG) 22 November 18909 November 1970) was a French army officer and statesman who led Free France against Nazi Germany in World War II and chaired the Provisional Government ...

in 1959 and the first officeholders was the writer André Malraux. Malraux was responsible for realising the goals of the ''droit à la culture'' ("right to culture"), an idea which had been incorporated in the

Constitution of France The current Constitution of France was adopted on 4 October 1958. It is typically called the Constitution of the Fifth Republic , and it replaced the Constitution of the Fourth Republic of 1946 with the exception of the preamble per a Constitu ...

and the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (1948), by democratising access to culture, while also achieving the Gaullist aim of elevating the "grandeur" ("greatness") of post-war France. To this end, he created numerous regional cultural centres throughout France and actively sponsored the arts. Malraux's artistic tastes included the modern arts and the avant-garde, but on the whole he remained conservative. Archives nationales Pierrefitte 1

Under President

François Mitterrand François Marie Adrien Maurice Mitterrand (26 October 19168 January 1996) was President of France, serving under that position from 1981 to 1995, the longest time in office in the history of France. As First Secretary of the Socialist Party, he ...

the Minister of Culture was Jack Lang who showed himself to be far more open to popular cultural production, including jazz, rock and roll,

rap music Rapping (also rhyming, spitting, emceeing or MCing) is a musical form of vocal delivery that incorporates "rhyme, rhythmic speech, and street vernacular". It is performed or chanted, usually over a backing beat or musical accompaniment. The ...

, graffiti,

cartoon A cartoon is a type of visual art that is typically drawn, frequently animated, in an unrealistic or semi-realistic style. The specific meaning has evolved over time, but the modern usage usually refers to either: an image or series of images ...

comic books A comic book, also called comicbook, comic magazine or (in the United Kingdom and Ireland) simply comic, is a publication that consists of comics art in the form of sequential juxtaposed panels that represent individual scenes. Panels are of ...

fashion Fashion is a form of self-expression and autonomy at a particular period and place and in a specific context, of clothing, footwear, lifestyle, accessories, makeup, hairstyle, and body posture. The term implies a look defined by the fashion in ...

and

food Food is any substance consumed by an organism for nutritional support. Food is usually of plant, animal, or fungal origin, and contains essential nutrients, such as carbohydrates, fats, proteins, vitamins, or minerals. The substance is inge ...

. His famous phrase "économie et culture, même combat" ("economy and culture: it's the same fight") is representative of his commitment to cultural democracy and to active national sponsorship and participation in cultural production. In addition to the creation of the ''

Fête de la Musique The Fête de la Musique, also known in English as Music Day, Make Music Day or World Music Day, is an annual music celebration that takes place on 21 June. On Music Day, citizens and residents are urged to play music outside in their neighborho ...

'' and overseeing the French Revolution bicentennial (1989), he was in charge of the massive architectural program of the

years (the so-called ''Grands travaux'' or "Great Works") that gave permission for the building of the Bibliothèque nationale, the new Louvre, the Arab World Institute, the

Musée d'Orsay The Musée d'Orsay ( , , ) ( en, Orsay Museum) is a museum in Paris, France, on the Left Bank of the Seine. It is housed in the former Gare d'Orsay, a Beaux-Arts railway station built between 1898 and 1900. The museum holds mainly French art ...

, the Opéra-Bastille, the " Grande Arche" of

La Défense La Défense () is a major business district in France, located west of the city limits of Paris. It is part of the Paris metropolitan area in the Île-de-France region, located in the department of Hauts-de-Seine in the communes of Courbevoie, ...

(the Parisian business quarter), the new seat of the French Ministry for the Economy and Finance, the Jean-Marie Tjibaou Cultural Centre, and the Cité des Sciences et de l'Industrie and Cité de la Musique, both in the Parc de la Villette. The Ministry of

Jacques Toubon Jacques Toubon (born 29 June 1941) is a right-wing French politician who held several major national and Parisian offices. He has been serving as Defender of Rights (Ombudsman) between 2014 and 2020. Political career Governmental functions M ...

was notable for a number of laws (the " Toubon Laws") enacted for the preservation of the

French language French ( or ) is a Romance language of the Indo-European family. It descended from the Vulgar Latin of the Roman Empire, as did all Romance languages. French evolved from Gallo-Romance, the Latin spoken in Gaul, and more specifically in Nor ...

, both in advertisements (all ads must include a French translation of foreign words) and on the radio (35% of songs on French radio stations must be in French), ostensibly in reaction to the presence of English.

Ministers of Culture

The following people were appointed as Minister of Culture of France: * February 1959: André Malraux * June 1969: Edmond Michelet * October 1970: André Bettencourt * January 1971: * April 1973: Maurice Druon * March 1974: Alain Peyrefitte * June 1974: * August 1976: Françoise Giroud * March 1977: Michel d'Ornano * April 1978: Jean-Philippe Lecat * March 1981: Michel d'Ornano * May 1981: Jack Lang * March 1986: François Léotard * May 1988: Jack Lang * March 1993:

* May 1995: Philippe Douste-Blazy * June 1997: Catherine Trautmann * March 2000:

Catherine Tasca Catherine Tasca (born 13 December 1941 in Lyon) was a member of the Senate of France, representing the Yvelines department from 2004 to 2017. She is a member of the Socialist Party (France), Socialist Party, and served as the Senate's vice-pres ...

* May 2002:

Jean-Jacques Aillagon Jean-Jacques Aillagon (born 2 October 1946, Metz) is a French politician, a close confidant of Jacques Chirac and member of the Union for a Popular Movement (UMP) political party. From 1972 to 1976 he was a high school teacher in the Corrèze ...

* March 2004: Renaud Donnedieu de Vabres * May 2007: Christine Albanel * June 2009: Frédéric Mitterrand * May 2012: Aurélie Filippetti * August 2014: Fleur Pellerin * February 2016: Audrey Azoulay * May 2017: Françoise Nyssen * October 2018:

Franck Riester Franck Riester (born 3 January 1974) is a French politician who has been serving as Minister Delegate for Parliamentary Relations in the Government of Prime Minister Élisabeth Borne since July 2022. He previously served as Minister Delegate fo ...

* July 2020: Roselyne Bachelot * May 2022:

Rima Abdul Malak Rima Abdul Malak (born 11 February 1979) is a French- Lebanese politician who has been serving as Minister of Culture in the government of Prime Minister Élisabeth Borne since May 2022. Early life Abdul Malak was born into a Lebanese Chri ...

Names of the Ministry of Culture

Since the French constitution does not identify specific ministers (merely speaking of "the minister in charge of" this or that), each government may label each ministry as they wish, or even have a broader ministry in charge of several governmental sectors. Hence, the ministry has gone through a number of different names: * 1959: ''Ministère des Affaires culturelles'' * 1974: ''Ministère des Affaires culturelles et de l'Environnement'' * 1974: ''Secrétariat d'État à la Culture'' * 1976: ''Ministère de la Culture et de l'Environnement'' * 1978: ''Ministère de la Culture et de la Communication'' * 1981: ''Ministère de la Culture'' * 1986: ''Ministère de la Culture et de la Communication'' * 1988: ''Ministère de la Culture, de la Communication, des Grands Travaux et du Bicentenaire'' * 1991: ''Ministère de la Culture et de la Communication'' * 1992: ''Ministère de l'Éducation nationale et de la Culture'' * 1993: ''Ministère de la Culture et de la Francophonie'' * 1995: ''Ministère de la Culture'' * 1997: ''Ministère de la Culture et de la Communication'' * 2017: ''Ministère de la Culture''

Organisation

Central administration

The Ministry of Culture is made up of a variety of internal divisions, including: * ''Direction de l'administration générale'' (DAG) * ''Direction de l'architecture et du patrimoine'' (DAPA) in charge of national monuments and heritage ** ''Inventaire général du patrimoine culturel'' maintains extensive databases of historical sites and objects via the Base Mérimée and ''

monument historique ''Monument historique'' () is a designation given to some national heritage sites in France. It may also refer to the state procedure in France by which National Heritage protection is extended to a building, a specific part of a building, a coll ...

'' status. * ''Direction des archives de France'' (DAF) in charge of the National Archives * ''Direction du livre et de la lecture'' (DLL) in charge of French literature and the book trade * ''Direction de la musique, de la danse, du théâtre et des spectacles'' (DMDTS) in charge of music, dance and theater * ''Direction des Musées de France'' (DMF) in charge of national museums The Ministry has access to one inter-ministerial division: * ''Direction du développement des médias'' (DDM) in charge of developing and expanding the

French media Compared to other European nations, the French are not avid newspaper readers, citing only 164 adults out of every 1000 as newspaper readers. The French press was healthiest in the aftermath of World War II. A year after the end of the war, 28 p ...

(although French public television is run through the public-service company France Télévisions) The Ministry also runs three "delegations" (administrative boards): * ''Délégation aux arts plastiques'' (DAP) in charge of the visual and sculptural arts * ''Délégation au développement et aux affaires internationales'' (DDAI) in charge of international affairs and French art * ''Délégation générale à la langue française et aux langues de France'' (DGLFLF) in charge of the

and

languages of France Of the languages of France, French is the sole official language according to the second article of the French Constitution. French, a Gallo-Romance language, is spoken by nearly the entire population of France. In addition to French, several ...

Finally, the Ministry shares in the management of the National Centre of Cinema (Centre national de la cinématographie), a public institution. The Alliance française is run by the

Ministry of Europe and Foreign Affairs The Ministry for Europe and Foreign Affairs () is the ministry of the Government of France that handles France's foreign relations. Since 1855, its headquarters have been located at 37 Quai d'Orsay, close to the National Assembly. The term Qua ...

Other services

On the national level, the Ministry also runs: * Regional Cultural Affairs (Direction régionale des affaires culturelles, DRAC) *

Department Department may refer to: * Departmentalization, division of a larger organization into parts with specific responsibility Government and military *Department (administrative division), a geographical and administrative division within a country, ...

al Architecture and Monuments (Services départementaux de l'architecture et du patrimoine, SDAP) *

al Archives under the direction of the departmental councils * Centre National de la Danse, institution for the study and preservation of dance

Cultural activities

The Ministry of Culture is responsible for, or a major sponsor of, a number of annual cultural activities, including the ''

'', the

Maison de la culture de Grenoble The Maison de la Culture de Grenoble, commonly called MC2, is a public venue for public events located on the Avenue Marcellin-Berthelot in Grenoble, France. History Built by André Wogenscky on the occasion of the Olympics, MC2 was inaugurated o ...

, the '' Festival d'Avignon'', the Public Establishment of the Palace, Museum and National Estate of Versailles, the Joconde (online database of objects in French museums), the Base Mérimée (database of listed heritage monuments), and the Maître d'art program.

References

External links

*
Culture Portal of the Ministry of Culture
(Page index in English, documents in French)
Culture Portal of the Ministry of Culture

English pages
(Archive) {{DEFAULTSORT:Minister Of Culture (France) French culture Culture ministers Government ministries of France