Heritage Days 2026: discover Paris’s Bourse du Travail

Every year, the Journées du Patrimoine (Heritage Days) give millions of French people the opportunity to visit monuments, museums, places of power and worship, historical curiosities and new buildings over a special weekend. Numerous sites open their doors to the general public, and offer free events to help visitors discover their history and special features.

For some, it's a chance to enjoy the great museums. Others prefer to wander around their city, pushing open the doors of ministries or parliament, or visiting France's top schools. Still others decide to explore little-known places and secret historical sites.

If that’s your plan, you’ve come to the right place. In Paris, the Bourse du travail opens its doors for the weekend of September 19-20, 2026. This monument historique, inaugurated in 1892, was once a place where workers could look for jobs with the help of unions. Today, the Bourse du travail serves as a gathering hub where employees can seek assistance from unions if they run into difficulties with their employment contracts.

The program for these Heritage Days at the Paris Bourse du Travail includes:

A Tour of the Paris Bourse du Travail
On March 3, 1851, a certain F. Sain, a deputy from Loire, asked the Legislative Assembly of the Second Republic to establish in Paris a “Worker’s Exchange,” designed to facilitate the circulation of labor, following the model of the Financial Exchange, which had long boosted capital since its 1724 founding.

But the idea was not revived until 1875 and, in 1884, submitted to the Paris City Council, which, with a Blanquist and Radical-Socialist majority, approved the principle.

The first Worker’s Exchange was inaugurated in 1887.

Its goal was to provide unions—legally recognized since the 1884 law on freedom of association—with a “house” that would group together the various trades, giving them offices and meeting rooms.
Participation terms: Free | No reservation
Hours: Saturday, September 19, 2026 — 9:00 AM to 4:30 PM | Sunday, September 20, 2026 — 9:00 AM to 4:30 PM

For more discoveries and visits to Parisian institutions, see our dedicated Heritage Days guide.

Heritage Days 2026: Must-visit institutions in Paris and Île-de-France — book your tickets!
On the occasion of Paris’s 2026 Journées du Patrimoine, the city’s major institutions are exceptionally opening their doors this weekend of September 19–20, 2026. From the Bank of France to the Court of Auditors and the ministries, they’ll reveal all their inner workings. Don’t wait to book your tickets. [Read more]