"The Cité internationale de la langue française is a cultural and living space entirely dedicated to the French language and French-speaking cultures. It is located in the castle of Villers-Cotterêts. This castle is the very place where King François I signed the ordinance of 1539 which made the use of French obligatory in administrative and judicial acts in France.
Announced in 2018 by Emmanuel Macron, President of the French Republic, and inaugurated by him in 2023, the City is administered by the Center des monuments nationaux (CMN).
On March 20, 2018, Emmanuel Macron announced his desire to make the historic site of Villers-Cotterêts Castle a “symbolic pillar” of the French-speaking world. He had already committed to this during a visit to the castle on March 17, 2017 as part of his presidential election campaign.
The castle restoration project called on multiple expertises. The Center des monuments nationaux (CMN), owner of the project, has entrusted the project management to Olivier Weets, chief architect of historic monuments. The mission of the CMN was to carry out the restoration work, to document its history, to clean the 16th century sculptures, to restore — using ancestral know-how — the Renaissance floors, roofs, staircases, etc. Through its 210 million euros invested in the project, it is President Macron's second largest cultural project after the reconstruction of Notre-Dame de Paris.
Within the castle, the International City of the French Language offers permanent and temporary exhibition spaces and an auditorium. A café, a bookstore or even the “lexical sky” are spaces open to the public, with free access. A place of training and language learning, it is also a place of residence, in its center of creation and innovation linked to the French language.
The tour consists of 15 rooms divided into three sections: “A world language”, “A continuing invention” and “An affair of State”, as well as an introductory room on the Château de Villers- Cotterêts and its territory. It represents the “adventure of French”, its diffusion throughout the world, its evolution through contact with other languages, its link to the political construction of the nation, its relationship to regional languages, its constant reinvention.
The Jeu de Paume court is an open space. It is possible to cross it freely to get to the town center of Villers-Cotterêts or the Retz forest.
A glass roof was created and covers the entire courtyard. It was designed by the chief architect of historic monuments, Olivier Weets. The glass roof is completed with a “lexical sky”, made up of one hundred suspended words, the choice of which was made with the Cotteréziens."