Journées du Matrimoine

The Journées du Matrimoine: Making the Great Women of History Visible

The Journées du Matrimoine were born in 2015 from a simple and striking observation: during the Heritage Days, the places, works, and figures celebrated are overwhelmingly male. The association HF Île-de-France, committed to gender equality in arts and culture, decided to fill this gap by creating an event dedicated to the cultural heritage of women.

Matrimoine, a Unifying Concept

The word matrimoine — the feminine counterpart to patrimoine (heritage) — refers to the cultural heritage transmitted by women: their works, their achievements, their contribution to the history of arts and society. The Journées du Matrimoine aim to bring out of oblivion the women architects, composers, musicians, painters, sculptors, writers, choreographers, and scientists whose achievements have been made invisible by official history.

Each edition highlights a leading figure — a woman whose work and journey embody the values of matrimoine. In 2025, it was the architect Renée Gailhoustet (1929-2023), a pioneer of social housing, who was celebrated.

A Rich and Free Cultural Program

For an entire weekend, the Journées du Matrimoine offer a free and open-to-all program: guided tours of buildings designed by women architects, concerts by forgotten female composers, readings by rediscovered female authors, exhibitions, artistic installations, theater and dance performances, film screenings, and conferences. Events take place in museums, libraries, theaters, conservatories, and public spaces in Paris and the Île-de-France region.

A Growing Movement

Since their creation in Paris, the Journées du Matrimoine have expanded to many regions in France — Normandy, Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes, Hauts-de-France, Centre-Val-de-Loire, Reunion Island — and internationally (Belgium, Spain, United Kingdom, Italy). Attendance has increased each year, driven by growing media coverage and increasingly strong institutional support. In 2026, for the first time, the Ministry of Culture officially integrates the term matrimoine into the title of the European Heritage Days, now Journées du Matrimoine et du Patrimoine.