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Russia - France
We consider this Franco-Russian
Year as a dynamic process. Twinning
between sites is only one facet of this
privileged relationship that we aspire
to, and other closer cooperation pro-
jects are being studied.
The French association (Rampart)
and the Russian association (Voopik)
have signed recently an agreement
for organizing projects of volunteers
for the restoration of heritage sites.
A project for a mobile scientific labo-
ratory in Russia, working together
with the benchmark organizations
that are the Historical Monuments
Research Laboratory (LRMH) and the
Centre for Research and Restoration
of French Museums (C2RMF), is also
being drafted.
Finally, in the education field, a
cooperation agreement is under
consideration for heritage architects
between the Chaillot School and its
Russian counterpart.
This joint year enabled a boom in bila-
teral tourism. Can you tell us about
the results?
This is quite true. The Franco-
Russian Year of Cultural Tourism
greatly contributed to boosting tou-
rism flows between our two coun-
tries. Thanks to this year, French
people have been able to diversify
their centres of interest and discover
new cultural sites that are still
unjustly little-known, both in France
and in Russia.
Concerning France, we are very
delighted to see many of our Russian
friends returning to our country
again after the drop in numbers in
2015 and 2016.
In 2017, the number of Russian
visitors to France increased by 30 %
(+39% in Paris and +15 % in the other
regions), and the trend should be
confirmed in 2018. This is excellent
news and the incontestable sign of
the impact of our joint mobilization.
How do you see the development of
Franco-Russian cultural relations?
What will be you be focussing on in the
coming months and years?
Relations between Russia and
France are part of a long-term pro-
cess. On 24 May in Moscow, the
President of France reminded us that
‘our shared cultural history places
obligations on us’. This mutual
attachment to reinforcing cultural
relations is now embodied by the
Trianon Dialogue, which has the goal
of bringing together representatives
of the civil society and of the acade-
mic and cultural world to foster a
renewal of dialogue.
In this framework, two digital plat-
forms have already been launched in
France and in Russia to facilitate the
circulation of initiatives and ideas.
After the success of the Franco-
Russian Year of Cultural Tourism, we
wish to strengthen still further our
joint projects in the cultural and
artistic fields, higher education, the
promotion of languages and school
education.
This is why we decided in March
2018, during the Paris Book Fair
where Russia was the guest of
honour, to announce the 2018
Franco-Russian Year of languages
and literatures, whose patron is the
actress Fanny Ardant.
This Year of languages and literatu-
res reminds us of how widespread
the French language is in Russia and
the need to preserve this learning,
and the efforts that we must make
for the promoting the Russian lan-
guage in France. I have decided to
show a good example in this area. We
are already working on new exhibi-
tions for the coming years, like the
exhibition of the collection of the
Morozov brothers at the Foundation
Louis Vuitton in autumn 2020, in
partnership with the Tretyakov galle-
ry, the Hermitage and the Pushkin
Museum.
The dynamism of our cooperation in
the field of heritage is very strong
and we hope that it will be able to
spread to all our relations affecting
the cultural and creative industries,
whether concerning books in 2018,
the performing arts or cinema.
Cinema is another sector that is
emblematic of the calibre of
Franco-Russian cultural relations,
in which we can certainly do more
together.
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