Franco-Korean cooperation

On the occasion of the official visit by the President of the Republic, Emmanuel Macron, and in the presence of the Minister for Culture, Catherine Pégard, the Centre des monuments nationaux signed a framework cooperation agreement with the Korea Heritage Service on 2 April 2026.

Signed by Ms Marie Lavandier, President of the Centre des monuments nationaux (CMN), and Mr Ahn Ho, Acting Director of the Centre for Royal Palaces and Tombs at the Korea Heritage Service (KHS), this partnership notably involves establishing links between the Basilica of Saint-Denis and the Jongmyo Shrine in South Korea.

The Centre des monuments nationaux (CMN) has been pursuing an active partnership policy for several years. Indeed, for over a century, the organisation has brought together the largest network of sites and monuments in France, spanning from prehistory to the present day. With 110 monuments spread across the country, nearly 1,500 staff members and 75 different professions, the CMN possesses expertise covering a wide range of fields. Building on this diversity and its recognised expertise, the CMN has developed a structured programme of cooperation and the sharing of its expertise at both national and international levels, notably through the CMN Institute, which also offers a wide range of training courses for professionals in the fields of culture and heritage.

The framework agreement on cooperation between the Centre des monuments nationaux and South Korea’s Korea Heritage Service (KHS) will help to foster closer ties between French and Korean heritage sites and promote exchanges in the field of cultural heritage: the development of professional exchange formats (webinars, site visits, sharing of experience and experimentation), and the sharing of expertise in the conservation, preservation and management of heritage sites. It may also lead to the implementation of joint educational programmes.

A partnership between the Jongmyo Shrine and the Cathedral Basilica of Saint-Denis, two sites associated with royal ritual traditions and the dynastic history of their respective countries, will notably involve exchanges between the sites’ teams and reciprocal communications between the monuments.

This memorandum of understanding follows an initial letter of intent signed on 2 December 2022 by Delphine Samsoen, then Director General of the CMN, and Jo Dongjoo, who at that time held the post of International Director of the Cultural Heritage Administration (CHA), now known as the KHS.