Historical sites

General information

The Centre des Monuments Nationaux (National Heritage Funds – CMN) manages more than 200 monuments or sites for the national heritage department of state. Attached to the Ministry of Culture, its openness to filming is part of a cultural policy to promote heritage. It is the first public organization to have structured its offer for filming. 

The fundamental missions of the CMN

• The respect of the heritage (monuments, collections, parks and natural areas) and the permanent concern of its transmission to future generations. 
• Sharing with all publics and the will to make heritage accessible to the greatest number of people by all appropriate means. 
• The wish to put monuments at the service of cultural, economic and social development of the territories. 

Useful information

• Partial or total closure: the CMN’s priority is public access. The total closure of a monument for a filming is very exceptionally authorized. 

• Places closed to the public: the CMN also manages places closed to the public. Filming is authorized there subject to their state of conservation and any work in progress. 
• Content of the scenario / subjects: the CMN is open to all types of filming and fictional universes. Reasons for refusing filming are related to incompatibility with the other uses of the monument. 
• Presence of an agent is mandatory: a filming requires the presence of a CMN agent. In some monuments, there are sometimes only 3 agents. Filming outside of the agents’ usual working hours can pose HR organizational difficulties for the CMN. 
• Furnished location to be unfurnished: if furniture must be removed for the needs of the filming, the removal and reinstallation costs (including insurance) are the responsibility of the production. The CMN and its curators can advise specialized service providers. 

Fees

The fee schedule is based on the following principles: 

• The rates are differentiated according to the monuments. The rate is degressive according to the number of monuments and the number of consecutive or non-consecutive shootings on a project;  
• Depending on the nature of the filming, the rates are valid for a duration of occupation of 12 hours for fiction and 8 hours for other media; 
• In case of overtime, an hourly rate is applied; a 50% discount is granted for the time of installation (assembly) and dismantling (removal); 
• These rates are all-inclusive: they include, in addition to the use of the premises, the remuneration of CMN agents present to monitor the monument. The installations and materials are not under the responsibility of CMN agents. 

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