18% of France Explores Its Patrimony

According to reports in the French press, there were 11 million visitors who took part in the Journées européennes du patrimoine (see post on September 19, European Patrimony Days). An article in Le Figaro (Onze millions de visiteurs aux Journées du patrimoine, September 22), which seems to have disappeared into the virtual ether, announced that there were 13,300 sites opened to the public this year. Since France had an estimated population of 61 million in 2002, I think those are impressive numbers, even when the possibility of foreign tourists among that 11 million is taken into account.