Our history, our values

The Centre des monuments nationaux (CMN) is a public institution under the authority of the Ministry of Culture. Created in 1914 under the name Caisse nationale des monuments historiques et préhistoriques, it became the CMN in 2000. Financed by the State, it preserves, manages and opens to visitors more than one hundred monuments, ranging from prehistoric times to the 20th century, more than twenty of which are on UNESCO's World Heritage List. Its 1,504 agents welcome over eleven million visitors every year.

The CMN's network of monuments is governed by two founding principles.

According to the first: the financial principle of total equalisation of resources, the income generated by the monuments is paid into the budget of the establishment which then distributes the credits to the different monuments. In this way, certain monuments whose economic activity is lower can receive credits according to their needs.

The second principle is based on the pooling of projects, resources and skills, and allows the monuments to work as a network to benefit from the experiences of other monuments and their good practices.

Under the French Code du patrimoine, the Centre des monuments nationaux is entrusted with four main missions in respect of the monuments for which it is responsible:

• To conserve, restore and maintain one hundred monuments and the 169,000 cultural assets placed under its responsibility by carrying out operations aimed at preventing their deterioration and ensuring that they are passed on to future generations.
• To open up these one hundred national monuments to visitors and bring them to life: the Abbey of Mont-Saint-Michel, the Châteaux of Angers and Azay-le-Rideau, the Château and ramparts of the City of Carcassonne, the Arc de Triomphe, the Sainte-Chapelle, the Hôtel de la Marine and soon the Cité Internationale de Langue Française in Villers-Cotterêts, to name but a few. The CMN's mission is to make these monuments accessible to as many people as possible, particularly those who are far removed from culture or have disabilities, and to contribute to the policy of artistic and cultural education, in particular by welcoming large numbers of schoolchildren, some 350,000 of them every year.
• Promoting the participation of national monuments in cultural life and the development of tourism, with almost 450 events a year (exhibitions, shows, events, etc.). Numerous links exist with local authorities and networks of cultural institutions.
• To act as a public publisher under the Éditions du patrimoine brand, thereby making a major contribution to the knowledge and promotion of heritage through the publication of visitor guides, fine books, monographs on architects or buildings, children's books, works for the blind and partially sighted, and works for the deaf and hard of hearing. Éditions du patrimoine has a catalogue of seven hundred titles and publishes almost forty works each year.
• Develop expertise, training, and cultural engineering through the CMN Institute by supporting heritage professionals in France and abroad in their projects to conserve, promote, mediate, and develop cultural and natural sites.

For over a century, the Centre des Monuments Nationaux has brought together the largest network of sites and monuments in France, from prehistory to the present day. Drawing on the richness of this shared heritage, the diversity of its locations and the expertise of its teams, it works every day to preserve, reveal and pass on this natural and cultural heritage to all audiences.

By bringing history, art and culture into dialogue, it transforms its monuments into places of knowledge, creation, emotion and sharing that help to strengthen social ties. Driven by shared values — passion, expertise, inventiveness, sharing, scientific rigour and solidarity — the CMN thus affirms a clear raison d'être: to make heritage a living, accessible and unifying asset, serving the public interest.

In January 2024, the president of the Centre des Monuments Nationaux, Marie Lavandier, launched a participatory process, open to both internal and external stakeholders, to jointly develop the ‘CMN 2030’ strategic project.

This ambitious project involves in-depth reflection on the future of heritage, its accessibility and its role in society, based on extensive consultation throughout 2024. The result of this collective effort, CMN 2030 is structured around five strategic areas and ten priority projects, aimed at enhancing hospitality and welcoming everyone, ensuring the transmission of heritage to future generations, inventing new regional collaborations, bringing monuments into dialogue with contemporary issues, and strengthening the network of 110 sites managed by the CMN. This project affirms the desire to make heritage a living and accessible asset, rooted in the regions and open to all, while innovating and adapting the institution to the challenges of the 21st century.

Find out more about CMN 2030

In 2025, several major events marked the Centre des Monuments Nationaux, celebrating heritage and culture. The year was marked in particular by the 500th anniversary of the Château d'Azay-le-Rideau, an iconic Renaissance masterpiece. It was also punctuated by the induction of Robert Badinter into the Panthéon, accompanied by an exhibition at the Panthéon paying tribute to his commitment to justice and human rights.

The refurbishment of the Queen's Dairy at the Château de Rambouillet restored this 18th-century gem to its former glory. This year, the Centre des Monuments Nationaux also celebrated 10 years of managing and reopening the Villa Cavrois, a symbol of modern architecture.

Finally, the reopening of the towers of Notre-Dame de Paris was a highlight for the public, symbolising the cathedral's renewal, while the launch of the Fabrique de la Flèche at the Basilica-Cathedral of Saint-Denis, supported by Suivez la Flèche, enabled everyone to share in the expertise mobilised for the building's rebirth.