Thanks to the European Heritage Days, discover unique cultural sites for free. Since 1984, all over France and Europe, places that are sometimes closed to the public or subject to a charge have become free and accessible to all, two days a year, in September. It's a unique event that's met with great success every year. And for their 40th edition, the Journées du Patrimoine will take place on Saturday September 20 and Sunday September 21, 2025.
Explore the full lineup of Heritage Days events across Paris and Île-de-France:
Journées du Patrimoine 2025 in Paris (75): full schedule of visits by arrondissement
For the Journées du Patrimoine 2025 in Paris, the capital's historic and artistic monuments and landmarks are opening their doors (often free of charge) to let us in on their secrets. Don't miss this not-to-be-missed event, scheduled for the weekend of September 20 and 21, 2025, on the theme of "Architectural Heritage". [Read more]
During this 2025 edition of the Journées du Patrimoine, a large number of museums and art foundations are opening their doors free of charge in Paris and the Île-de-France region. Join us on Saturday, September 20 and Sunday, September 21, 2025, for a program full of wonderful discoveries. [Read more]
During the 42nd Journées du Patrimoine, discover the world of cinema in Paris and the Île-de-France region on September 20 and 21, 2025. Go behind the scenes and discover our selection of cinemas and museums dedicated to the seventh art! [Read more]
The Fondation Jérôme Seydoux-Pathé was launched in 2006, but the building that houses it opened in 2014. Behind the facade sculpted by Auguste Rodin around 1869, architect Renzo Piano built a five-storey shell covered with 5,000 protective shutters. This is where the Foundation's headquarters are located, where numerous researchers work to preserve and make available to the public the historical heritage of the Pathé company, one of the very first companies dedicated to cinema. The Foundation invites Parisians to discover its history during the Journées du Patrimoine, on Saturday September 20 and Sunday September 21, 2025.
The Fondation Jérôme Seydoux-Pathé building, designed by Renzo Piano, is exceptionally open to the public during the European Heritage Days.
The Fondation Jérôme Seydoux-Pathé, recognized as a public utility in 2006, works to preserve and make available to the public the historical heritage of the Pathé company. Behind the façade sculpted by Auguste Rodin around 1869, architect Renzo Piano built a five-storey shell covered with 5,000 protective shutters. Raised in the middle of a garden, the contemporary building was inaugurated in September 2014 and now houses the Foundation's new headquarters. The now-famous glass shell on the 5th floor houses the offices and reception area for researchers.
This area is exceptionally open to the public during the European Heritage Days.
MAKING AN IMPRESSION. WHEN THE CINEMA POSTER WAS INVENTED
The cinema poster is still one of the mainstays of film advertising today, one of the visuals that brings audiences to the screen, an image designed to convey a first impression. A promotional tool, the poster is also a creative medium. Reflecting artistic currents such as Art Nouveau and Fauvism, its creators have, over the decades, questioned its place in urban space, and thus its impact on the walker. The poster, whatever its format, must captivate as well as astound. Fifty posters from the collections of the Fondation Jérôme Seydoux-Pathé and from private collections invite us to take a walk on the frontiers of dreams. Mirroring a world that bears witness to the birth of cinema, they are accompanied by photographs and film footage from the Albert Khan Museum, drawings from the Bibliothèque des littératures policières, promotional documents and excerpts from the films they promote.
THE CAMERA GALLERY: NINE DECADES OF CINEMATIC INVENTION
The Foundation is once again exhibiting its collection of cameras, projectors and accessories in a new dedicated space and a new scenography. These devices, produced by Pathé over 90 years, trace a history of cinematographic techniques and practices when film was the only possible medium for the moving image. So many film formats invented, so many machines created, tell the story of the conquest of cinema as an essential leisure activity, from the first cinemas equipped with the Cinématographe Lumière to the introduction of cinema into living rooms thanks to the ingenious Pathé-Baby. Charles Pathé, a visionary industrialist, had his engineers design multiple devices accessible to the greatest number of people, simplifying the required manipulations and their operation. Until the 1970s, Pathé maintained its status as the creator of the home cinema, constantly coming up with new innovations in line with technological progress.
The exhibition features some fifty devices, including some of the most emblematic in the history of cinema, such as the camera.
Pathé Professionnelle, the Pathé-Baby and Pathé-Rural projectors and the flagship camera of the 1960s, the Pathé-Webo M, is complemented by the screening of extracts from documentary films contemporary with their commercialization, as well as by didactic films showing the secrets of their operation.
The Salle Charles Pathé, dedicated to silent films throughout the year, will be showing a program of Pathé films digitized by the Pathé Foundation over the two days, demonstrating the variety of the catalog (approx. 30-minute screenings).
Sessions will be accompanied on piano by students from Jean-François Zygel's improvisation class at the Conservatoire national supérieur de musique et de danse de Paris.
Dates and Opening Time
From September 20, 2025 to September 21, 2025
Location
The Jérôme Seydoux-Pathé Foundation
73 Avenue des Gobelins
75013 Paris 13
Access
Metro: Place d'Italie, Les Gobelins
Prices
Free
Recommended age
For all
Average duration
2 h
Official website
www.fondation-jeromeseydoux-pathe.com
Journées du Patrimoine 2025 in Paris (75): full schedule of visits by arrondissement
Journées du Patrimoine 2025: the program at museums in Paris and the Île-de-France region
Journées du Patrimoine 2025: visits for film buffs in Paris and the Île-de-France region
