Cité des Présents François Mitterrand, Château-Chinon

In the heart of the Morvan region, Château‑Chinon houses the Cité des Présents, a museum complex dedicated to the diplomatic gifts received by French President François Mitterrand during his two presidential terms. This heritage building renovation forges a unique connection between national history and local culture. The civic architect was entrusted with the rehabilitation and extension of the existing museums. An innovative museography and immersive landscape design invite visitors to wander and rediscover a territory rich in tradition and craftsmanship.

Opening directly onto the town, the Cité muséale is accessed from the Maison du Morvan and its new forecourt — an interface between contemporary history and regional heritage. The heritage building renovation unifies the three existing institutions — the Maison du Morvan, the Musée du Septennat and the Musée du Costume — within a coherent cultural and landscape itinerary.

The design strategy of the civic architect reinterprets the museum experience for the 21st century through a refined, understated museography that foregrounds the artworks and integrates digital galleries and interactive interpretation tools.

Visitors reach the museums through the “lower garden,” where the civic architect reinterprets the Morvan’s natural topography. The contemporary glass pavilion forms a connective hinge between the museums and gardens, its fully glazed façades opening from the “upper garden” onto a panoramic terrace overlooking Château‑Chinon and its landscape.

The landscape promenade, conceived by the civic architect as a tribute to the region’s culture of hiking and exploring, invites a sensory reconnection with Morvan’s natural and industrial heritage, notably its woodcraft tradition. Layered vegetation following the site’s contours creates a sequence of diverse atmospheres — from underbrush to open clearings.

A covered gallery structures the garden, leading visitors through a spatial sequence marked by Land‑Art interventions and framed vistas of Château‑Chinon and the Morvan hills — a territorial dialogue among architecture, art and landscape.