60 interactive installations retell the French language in Villers-Cotterêts

Fill the permanent tour of the Cité internationale de la langue française — hosted in the château where François I declared French the official language in 1539 — with engaging, accessible mediations, in a project entrusted to the Centre des Monuments Nationaux.

Sixty audiovisual and interactive installations narrate the French language and the Francophonie room by room inside the Château de Villers-Cotterêts.

The Mill+ and Ilusio consortium (mediation devices for Hôtel de la Marine, Muséoparc Alésia, Cité du vin) spent almost two and a half years: writers and directors worked with supervising teams Projectile & Lundi 8 and a scientific committee to craft concepts entertaining enough for the public and inclusive for academics and foreign visitors.

The permanent tour was inaugurated on 30 October 2023 by the president of the republic, Emmanuel Macron. Producers Hugues Allart and Maud Chirat called it the most extensive production experience of their careers.

The Cité internationale de la langue française — the inaugural cultural institution fully devoted to the French language, hosted in the historic Château de Villers-Cotterêts where François I declared French the official language in 1539 — opened its permanent tour on 30 October 2023, inaugurated by President Emmanuel Macron, who initiated the project and entrusted it to the Centre des Monuments Nationaux.

Mill+, the production and experiences department of The Mill (Technicolor Creative Studios), joined digital scenography agency Ilusio to create 60 audiovisual and interactive installations for the tour. The consortium, known for mediation devices at the Hôtel de la Marine, Muséoparc Alésia and the Cité du vin de Bordeaux, was selected for technical excellence and creative ability.

Each creation came out of a collaboration between Mill+ and Ilusio writers and directors, project management, the supervising team (Projectile & Lundi 8) and a scientific committee — concepts designed to be simultaneously entertaining and inclusive for diverse audiences, from academics to foreign visitors. Producers Hugues Allart and Maud Chirat called the roughly two-and-a-half-year effort the most extensive production they had undertaken.

The subject is a language, not objects — so the exhibition had to be built from interaction and audio rather than vitrines.

The château is itself the argument: the room where French was decreed official in 1539 now stages the language's living story.

Sixty distinct installations let different audiences — academics, families, foreign visitors — each find an entry point.

A scientific committee kept the entertainment honest, so the fun installations still carry the Francophonie's full range.

A language is an exhibition-grade subject when you stage it as experiences rather than display it as documents.

The permanent tour opened to the public after the 30 October 2023 inauguration. No visitor figures were reported in the coverage.