Romanesque Nights in Charente-Maritime

ℹ️ Festival discontinued since 2016. Les Nuits Romanes have not been held since the program was abolished by the Nouvelle-Aquitaine Region. Some communes have since organized their own heritage events ("Soirées du Patrimoine", "Soirées Romanes") to perpetuate the spirit of these summer evenings.

History of Les Nuits Romanes in Charente-Maritime

Created in 2005 on the initiative of Ségolène Royal, then president of the Poitou-Charentes Region, Les Nuits Romanes took over the Romanesque monuments of the four departments of the former region each summer: Charente, Charente-Maritime, Deux-Sèvres, and Vienne. The festival offered more than 170 free evenings combining guided tours of specially illuminated monuments, live performances (music, dance, theatre, fire arts), and tastings of local products.

In Charente-Maritime, the evenings took place in Romanesque churches, abbeys, and remarkable heritage sites of the department, attracting thousands of spectators each season. The festival totaled over 164,000 spectators across the entire territory throughout its editions.

The end of an adventure

In 2016, the merger of the Poitou-Charentes, Limousin, and Aquitaine regions into Nouvelle-Aquitaine led Alain Rousset, president of the new large region, to abolish the Les Nuits Romanes program for budgetary reasons. The decision, announced abruptly, caused incomprehension among local elected officials and live performance professionals, leading to two online petitions. Since then, some communes have taken up the torch by organizing their own heritage evenings, but the regional festival as such has never been relaunched.