Versailles – Prague
CZECH-FRENCH COLLABORATION 2016–2021
The project of six-year Czech-French Collaboration is based on close interaction between three prestigious institutions: the Centre de Musique Baroque de Versailles, the Collegium Marianum Centre of Historical Arts in Prague, and the French Institute. The extent and particular themes of collaboration reflect the ideas, shared by the three institutions, about the preservation of national and European cultural heritage and were prepared in the course of 2014 and 2015.
The three partners are all renowned for organizing cultural events of exceptional artistic quality and thus contribute to the conservation and popularization of cultural heritage. The aspect of international collaboration and an emphasis placed on education are perceived as essential for the achievement of the aforementioned goals. This new project of collaboration substantially expands the theme of the mutual influencing of the cultural traditions of the Czech Republic and France which has been a distinguishing feature of the programming of cultural events organized by Collegium Marianum in the past twenty-five years, most notably the Summer Festivities of Early Music international music festival.
One of the proofs and reconfirmations of these endeavours in the past has been the “Ordre des Arts et des Lettres” bestowed in 2014 on the founding director of the Summer Festivities of Early Music, Markéta Semerádová for her merits in the promotion of French culture and Czech-French cultural relations in the field of music and musical education.
