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PARIS

Paris opens new museum of French presidents

Paris visitors will soon have another museum to visit, this one celebrating the Elysée Palace and the French presidents who have occupied it over the years.

Published: 25 July 2024 10:44 CEST
Paris opens new museum of French presidents
French President Emmanuel Macron stands behind the desk that belonged to French General and former President Charles de Gaulle during the inauguration of the Maison Elysee in July 2024. (Photo by Stephanie Lecocq / POOL / AFP)

On Wednesday, French President Emmanuel Macron inaugurated a new museum in Paris – the Maison de l’Élysée, located just opposite his residence at the Elysée palace on rue Saint-Honoré in Paris’ eighth arrondissement. 

The museum will offer visitors a chance to get to know the palace and its history better, as well as its current and former inhabitants.

It will open to the public on July 30th, and will be free to visit during the Olympic Games. Afterwards, a reservation system will be put in place from September. The museum will have a capacity of 150 people at a time.

Macron initiated the project during the summer of 2023 “to show the history of the building and promote French know-how (savoir faire).”

READ MORE: 5 lesser-known museums in Paris to visit this summer

During the inauguration, the president added that part of the inspiration was the fact that the “10,000 places we offer during the Heritage Days (Journées du Patrimoine) go in 30 minutes”.  

Officially, the Elysée receives 75,000 people annually, according to Le Figaro, but the primary moment of the year that tourists can come see the palace is during the ‘Heritage days’, typically in September, which involves a tour of the building’s ornate halls, as well as the Salle des Fêtes, the site of state dinners.

What will be inside of the museum?

The 600 square metre, two-floor museum will present some of the original furniture, art and photos that have decorated the Elysée Palace over the years, including the ‘imperial chandelier’ that once decorated the Salon des Huissiers. 

One of the key exhibits will be the desk used by several former French presidents, including Charles de Gaulle, Valéry Giscard d’Estaing, François Hollande and Emmanuel Macron during his first term.

Visitors will be allowed to take a photo in front of it, but they won’t be permitted to sit down behind it. 

The museum will also offer a short film on the history of the palace, as well as tableware from state dinners and diplomatic gifts received by French presidents over the years.

A gift shop will sell French presidency-themed souvenirs, with proceeds contributing to the upkeep of the palace, which was built in the 18th century and requires about €6.5 million each year to keep it up.

There will also be a café with about 40 seats, offering a lovely view of the Elysée’s courtyard. 

Leadership tourism

France is not the first country to offer such a visitor experience. 

In the United States, the White House visitor centre offers exhibits (free of charge) for visitors interested in learning about the residence as both a home, office and ceremonial space.

In the UK, it is possible to take a virtual tour of the inside of 10 Downing Street.

As for Italy, it is possible to book a guided tour of the Quirinale Palace, though space tends to be limited.

In Spain, the Palacio de la Moncloa offers 90-minute guided visits, as long as you register in advance on their official website. 

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POLITICS

‘Serious political crisis’: Anger grows in France over Macron’s dithering

Almost two months after France's inconclusive legislative elections, impatience is growing with the reluctance of President Emmanuel Macron to name a new prime minister in an unprecedented standoff with opposition parties.

Published: 30 August 2024 15:42 CEST
'Serious political crisis': Anger grows in France over Macron's dithering

Never in the history of the Fifth Republic — which began with constitutional reform in 1958 — has France gone so long without a permanent government, leaving the previous administration led by Prime Minister Gabriel Attal in place as caretakers.

A left-wing coalition emerged from the election as the biggest political force but with nowhere near enough seats for an overall majority, while Macron’s centrist faction and the far-right make up the two other major groups in the National Assembly.

To the fury of the Nouveau Front Populaire (NFP) coalition, Macron earlier this week rejected their choice of economist and civil servant Lucie Castets, 37, to become premier, arguing a left-wing government would be a “threat to institutional stability”.

Macron insisted during a Thursday visit to Serbia that he was making “every effort” to “achieve the best solution for the country”.

“I will speak to the French people in due time and within the right framework,” he said.

READ MORE: OPINION: Macron is not staging a ‘coup’, nor is he ‘stealing’ the French elections

‘Serious political crisis’

Macron’s task is to find a prime minister with whom he can work but who above all can find enough support in the National Assembly to escape swift ejection by a no-confidence motion.

Despite the lack of signs of progress in public, attention is crystallising on one possible “back to the future” option.

Former Socialist Party grandee Bernard Cazeneuve, 61, could return to the job of prime minister which he held for less than half a year under the presidency of Francois Hollande from 2016-2017.

He is better known for his much longer stint as interior minister under Hollande, which encompassed the radical Islamist attacks on Paris in November 2015.

But Cazeneuve receives far from whole-hearted support even on the left, where some in the Socialist Party (PS) regard him with suspicion for leaving when it first struck an alliance with hard-left La France Insoumise (LFI) — a party which in turn sees the ex-PM as too centrist.

Another option could be the Socialist mayor of the Paris suburb of Saint-Ouen, Karim Bouamrane, 51, who has said he would consider taking the job if asked. Bouamrane is widely admired for seeking to tackle inequality and insecurity in the low-income district.

The stalemate has ground on first through the Olympics and now the Paralympics, with Macron showing he is in no rush to resolve the situation.

“We are in the most serious political crisis in the history of the Fifth Republic,” Jerome Jaffre, a political scientist at the Sciences Po university, told AFP.

France has been “without a majority, without a government for forty days,” he said, marking the longest period of so-called caretaker rule since the end of World War II.

‘Rubik’s cube’

Macron’s move to block Castets even seeking to lead a government provoked immediate outrage from the left, with Green Party chief Marine Tondelier accusing the president of stealing the election outcome.

National coordinator for the hard-left La France Insoumise (LFI), Manuel Bompard, said the decision was an “unacceptable anti-democratic coup”, and LFI leader Jean-Luc Melanchon called for Macron’s impeachment.

READ MORE: Can a French president be impeached?

Some leftist leaders are urging for popular demonstrations on September 7, although this move has alarmed some Socialists and led to strains within the NFP.

France is in a “void with no precedents or clear rules about what should happen next,” said Mujtaba Rahman, managing director for Europe at the Eurasia Group consultancy.

The president was “confronted with a parliamentary Rubik’s cube without an obvious solution,” said Rahman.

October 1 is the legal deadline by which a government must present a draft budget law for 2025.

The president has a constitutional duty to “ensure” the government functions, said public law professor Dominique Rousseau.

“He’s not going to appoint a government that we know will be overthrown within 48 hours,” he added.

For constitutional scholar Dominique Chagnollaud, Macron has backed himself into a corner, creating “unprecedented constitutional confusion”.

The logical choice is to appoint a leader from the group that “came out on top,” said Chagnollaud. “In most democracies, that’s how it works. If that doesn’t work, we try a second solution, and so on.”

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