A must-see
article | Temps de Lecture4 min
A must-see
article | Temps de Lecture4 min
Welcome to the belly of the City! In the heart of the royal residence of the castle of Villers-Cotterêts, the courtyard of the jeu du paume will welcome you with open arms. You will just have to raise your eyes towards the sky to discover a masterly glass roof, from which suspended words will be offered to the amazed visitors.
Did you know that Francis I was a sporting king, or rather one who loved sports, in addition to his regular practice of hunting?
Recent archaeological excavations conducted by INRAP have uncovered, in the heart of the royal dwelling of the castle of Villers-Cotterêts, the remains of a game of paume, considered to be the ancestor of our current tennis. Its location allowed the king to watch the games from his apartments, whose windows looked directly onto the playing area!
A surface slightly smaller than two tennis courts, surrounded by a space allowing spectators to admire the players' prowess. Which, by the way, gave rise to the expression "to impress the gallery"... This courtyard of the jeu de paume will not fail to impress the future visitor of the Cité internationale de la langue française: covered by an impressive glass roof that will house a lexical sky, it will be the heart of the Cité!
© Gallica / BnF
To sublimate this courtyard of the jeu de paume, while protecting it and making it a real place of meeting of the public and distribution of the various spaces of the Cité, the chief architect of the Monuments historiques, Olivier Weets, imagined and conceived a unique glass roof which required months of intense calculations:
© Centre des monuments nationaux
video | Temps de Lecture0:52 min
From the city, after having crossed the courtyard of the castle's offices and the entrance porch of the royal dwelling, the visitor will enter the central place of life of the Cité: the courtyard of the jeu de paume.
He will be challenged by the hundred or so words facing him, suspended from the glass roof 10 meters high. These words are the result of a consultation with the inhabitants of Villers-Cotterêts and reflect the diversity of the French language throughout the world.
From slang to literary figures of the territory through regional and francophone expressions, we can not divulge the list of words of this lexical sky designed by the agency Projectiles. You will discover these chosen words through the rays of the sun which will cross the glass roof, or at nightfall when some of them will be illuminated thanks to leds.
From the courtyard, you will be able to discover the adventure of the French language, take a break in the café-tea room, stroll through the bookshop-boutique or why not attend a live show on the cobblestones of this incredible and unique cultural atrium.
© Centre des monuments nationaux
video | Temps de Lecture2:43 min