Artists from the WHO'S WHO Art club international were placed at the forefront during the 27th edition of the European Heritage Days at the Château d'Auvers-sur-Oise

Over 12 million visitors to more than 15000 sites made the success of the 27th edition of the European Heritage Days, according to the Ministry of Culture and Communication (Press release, 19th September 2010).

'This year, the central theme being great men: 'when women and men build History', recalls the Ministry, these two days allowed every woman and every man to immerse themeselves into our great common History, to reclaim as their own a part of our collective memory. (…) Visitors, with their relatives or their friends, either chose to rediscover the heritage which forms their daily environment or to explore unknown territories.'

Besides, 'set up in 1984, the National Heritage Days became European in 1991; today, 49 different countries organise this event which has become so important that you simply can't miss it'.

Linked to the European Heritage Days 2010 by the Château d’Auvers-sur-Oise, the exhibition organised by the WHO'S WHO Art club international between 15th and 19th September gathered forty-five contemporary painters and sculptors from fourteen different countries, under the title 'From open-air sculptures to small format paintings'. A successful meeting between the public, History, nature and art!

The wide audience which attended this exhibition, especially at the weekend, was indeed able to discover several facets of large size sculptures, while visiting the park and the French garden of the Château – built in 1635 -, together with small format paintings set in the magnificent room with vaulted ceiling and stone masonry which overlooks the park: 'The Orangerie' (see the slide show that illustrates this closing communiqué).

The exhibition was opened by Mr Jean-Pierre Becquet, Mayor of Auvers-sur-Oise, accompanied by Mr Jackie Breton, Vice-president of the Val d'Oise Regional Council and chairman of the Château d'Auvers-sur-Oise company, and Mrs Marie-Cécile Tomasina, Events Organiser of the Château d'Auvers-sur-Oise.

The numerous artists who came to the venue (our big thanks to them!) had the opportunity to appreciate, together with the authorities there, the quality of the exhibition in a warm and friendly atmosphere – the toast to friendship did the rest…

Advertised in the local press (in particular in La Gazette du Val d'Oise and L'Echo Régional) and on some web sites (such as www.vonews.fr), the exhibition managed to draw a varied audience. Hundreds of visitors thus invaded – with obvious pleasure – the park, the garden and the Orangerie room, between 15th and 19th September. 

Just as an indication, over 570 people were registered on 19th September alone. Whilst 543 visits had already been announced at the Château d'Auvers, even before the opening of the exhibition.  In the end, attendance was equal, if not superior, to that in many other historic sites, such as the Jean-Jacques Rousseau Museum in Montmorency, equally in the Val d'Oise region, which, for its part, registered 350 visitors in all. (Non-exhaustive) attendance details at a national level recalled in the press release of the Ministry of Culture and Communication, on 19th September 2010.

(18th October 2010)