Art & Architecture
article | Reading time4 min
Roll up your sleeves: take a behind-the-scenes look at how the Centre des Monuments Nationaux manages its collections, comprising nearly 162,000 cultural artefacts!
The teams
The creation of a dedicated department
Since 2000, the Ministry of Culture and Communication has tasked the Centre des monuments nationaux with compiling an inventory of the collections held within state-owned monuments. To coordinate these tasks at national level, a department dedicated to the inventory and verification of collections was established in 2005.
Today, out of all the monuments, 76 are considered to house collections, comprising nearly 169,000 cultural artefacts, of which 12,300 are listed as Historic Monuments.
The collections comprise objects relating to the fine arts, archaeology, folk arts and traditions, contemporary art, ethnology, numismatics, libraries and archives…
The department responsible for inventory and verification reports to the Directorate for the Conservation of Monuments and Collections: it is tasked with establishing the ownership status of cultural property, and with studying, cataloguing, verifying, managing and disseminating the collections. It works in collaboration with various partners: archive centres, museums, local authorities, the CRMH, the CRDOA, the OCBC… It comprises five staff members (one unit head and four inventory officers).
© Inventory and Verification Unit / Centre des Monuments Nationaux
Collections – what are they?
Items eligible for inclusion in the inventory are those of historical or aesthetic interest, in accordance with Article L.2112-1 of the General Code of Property of Public Bodies; Article L 141-1 of the Heritage Code specifies that the CMN’s remit is to maintain, preserve and restore the national monuments in its care, as well as their collections. Furthermore, in order to understand, identify and manage the collections, the department carries out multi-year campaigns of on-site inventory and verification. At the same time, historical and iconographic research is carried out to gain a better understanding of the cultural property (legal status, attribution to an artist, materials and use, etc.).
Most of the items preserved within the monuments are part of the public domain and, as such, are inalienable and cannot be subject to a limitation period.
Objectives:
- To describe, index, catalogue, study and document the collections
- To create and complete records in the Collectio database and management system;
- Carry out inventory checks;
- To contribute to their promotion;
- To list and manage missing and unaccounted-for items;
- Transfer records to the national ‘Palissy’ database
- Make records of works available to the public, professionals and researchers whilst complying with confidentiality rules.
© Inventory and Verification Unit / Centre des Monuments Nationaux
In practice: different scenarios
The monument is the subject of an inventory and/or verification campaign
A preliminary inventory is drawn up based on prior documentary and archival research carried out by the inventory officer to collect old inventories, restoration files, etc., and to establish the legal status of the collections.
The inventory of a cultural object ( exclusively movable property) involves describing it in detail (composition, function, recording of markings, measurement of dimensions, location, photography), in accordance with the National Descriptive System for Movable Objects and the Palissy thesaurus, whether on display or held in storage. All objects are thus inventoried, including those belonging to the CMN, the State or other institutions on loan.
The data and images collected on site are recorded for each object in the Collectio database.
Once the inventory is complete, an inventory register is produced and checked/initialled.
Any acquisitions or chance discoveries will be added to this inventory.
On the basis of the inventories, a reconciliation process is required every five years. Reconciliation means ‘verifying the presence of an item that has been included in an inventory’. This is a legal obligation stemming from the 1913 Act (Art. 23) for objects classified as Historic Monuments.
© photo: Collections Inventory and Reconciliation Unit / Centre des Monuments Nationaux
The monument is subject to a stock-take of the deposits
The inventory check is carried out on site at the request of the depositing institutions and the Commission for the Inventory Check of Deposited Works of Art. Its purpose is to locate the cultural property and draw up a report on its state of conservation. Following the inventory, their administrative status must be regularised by means of an order or a deposit agreement. If any cultural property was not identified during the inventory, a complaint must be lodged.
© Colombe Clier / Centre des Monuments Nationaux
The monument is the subject of a scientific inventory
Once the administrative inventory has been finalised and validated, the inventory officer carries out archival research on the cultural property to determine its provenance, history, techniques and materials, comparative records, etc. Calls for contributions are made to experts at other institutions. This work results in a selection of cultural assets that may be listed as Historic Monuments, provided they are of ‘public interest from the point of view of history, art, science or technology’. Collaboration then takes place with the relevant DRAC to prepare the classification dossier.
© Saint-Cloud National Estate / Centre des Monuments Nationaux
The subject file
