The Cité Internationale de la Langue Française, a museum celebrating the history and future of the French language, will open to the public at the end of October in a former royal palace near Paris.
The Château de Villers-Cotterêts, located 50 kilometres north of Paris, is preparing to open its doors after four years of work overseen by France's public heritage body, the Centre des Monuments Nationaux.
The palace had been falling into ruin when, in 2018, the decision was taken to restore it and turn it into the Cité Internationale de la Langue Française, or International French Language Centre: a space dedicated to the French language and Francophonie, the French-speaking world.
The choice of the Château de Villers-Cotterêts is a symbolic one: it is where King Francis I of France signed the decree of 10 October 1539 that made French the country's official language.
Known as the Ordinance of Villers-Cotterêts, the decree is the oldest French legislation still partly used by French courts. It made it compulsory for official documents to be written in French.
A printed copy of the ordinance, usually housed in France's National Archives, will be displayed in the new museum's first exhibition.
'Deterioration in the language'
Today French is spoken by 321 million people around the world – but according to Paul Rondin, director of the new museum, "we are witnessing a real deterioration in the language".
"We've let ourselves be devoured by a globish that isn't English [...] The language has been transformed into an accumulation of signs, leaving little room for complexity and diversity, accelerated by digital technology where it's not even quite globish but pieces of globish or of what used to be French," he tells RFI.
"Our project is to provide a home for the French language: not to protect it, but to reflect on it, to listen to it, to value it, to be attentive to all its transformations," Rondin explains.
The opening exhibition, "L'aventure du français" ('The adventure of French"), explores the cultural, historical and social aspects of French, as well as its relationship with other languages.
Teaching and cultural centre
Alongside exhibitions, the new centre will offer opportunities for students to learn French.
It is also intended to be a hub for arts and culture, notably with the Jeu de Paume, a 250-seat auditorium that will host concerts, shows, conferences and more.
"Artists will be welcome at the Cité, whatever their discipline, gender or origin," says Rondin.
The next exhibition, due to open in May 2024, will focus on French-language songs that have become beloved hits around the world, from La Vie en Rose by Édith Piaf to the more recent Pookie by Aya Nakamura.
