Over the course of these days, two tools were highlighted that will form the basis of this transmission and the future of the Niçoise identity.
This day of October 18 was marked by two key events:
– Inauguration of the “Petite Ecole du Patrimoine” at the Château School.
This small school, at the heart of the preserved area of Vieux-Nice, will allow children to discover the old town, its history, its baroque architecture, and the remnants of the ancient medieval city. They will be able to learn about the small trades and traditions that kept Nice alive until the fall of its walls and castle.
– Presentation and distribution of the interactive CD-Rom, a true digital educational kit, “Eviva Lou Nissa” at the Mediterranean University Center.
The culture, language, and heritage of Nice are now accessible to all CM1 and CM2 students in the City of Nice. This educational kit, presented in the form of a CD-Rom, offers a series of games and interactive animations to all students in the City of Nice. It was initiated by the Historical Heritage Delegation of the City of Nice and designed in partnership with CRDP.
This program symbolizes and synthesizes the municipal action aimed at passing down our culture to new generations. These days provide the opportunity to highlight several tools that will be fundamental to this transmission, both playful, particularly through the use of new information and communication technologies (ICT), and also structural.
The structural actions are the cornerstone of this transmission.
Thus, the Petite Ecole du Patrimoine will be a fundamental tool. Located within the escola d’en Castèu, it will be open to all primary schools in Nice.
These schools will be able, in this space steeped in our history, to spend an entire day dedicated to discovery visits of Vieux-Nice and workshops promoting the Heritage, Language, and Culture of Nice. This action will be reinforced by the acquisition of 10,000 CD Roms, a true digital educational kit.
A small school serving heritage
Located within the premises of the Château Elementary School, at 23 St Joseph Street, the “Petite Ecole du Patrimoine” offers a global mediation program, intended and adapted for children during school time but also outside school hours.
The desired objective is to create, through this Petite Ecole du Patrimoine, “Heritage” classes, where ALL the schools in the City of Nice will be encouraged to immerse themselves, for the duration of a day, in the historic heart of the city. The students will benefit from an in situ visit to the monuments of the Old Town. Practical workshops will complement these visits to raise awareness and make known the richness of the Niçoise heritage.
A new approach
To successfully carry out this project, which is a priority of the heritage policy, the Heritage Information Center is implementing new tools and developing new didactic axes for the benefit of the child.
The primary objective of this new approach is to raise awareness among schoolchildren, predominantly in primary grades, about the unique history of our area as well as the architectural heritage of the preserved sector.
The participants in this program (cultural mediators and cultural professionals) will be responsible for guiding the children to discover this heritage, place it in its historical context, and allow appropriation by the new generations.
It is indeed a determination to pass on our common legacy that will be implemented by the Petite Ecole du Patrimoine.
Three major didactic axes are implemented:
– Heritage and historical discovery workshops/visits,
– Niçoise culture discovery workshops/visits,
– Medieval and modern archaeology discovery workshops/visits.
The heritage workshops
School workshops
For the past five years, the Cultural Mediators of the Heritage Center have been offering to elementary and secondary school classes, in a playful form and with a pedagogical logic, the discovery of the Niçoise heritage.
This approach is established in two stages:
– A discovery-deepening of a site rich in history with a specific guided tour according to the theme chosen by the teacher,
– A technical approach to the subject through a didactic workshop.
This latter part unfolds over half a day during which the work is termed as “manual” or “experimental,” with the aim of familiarizing students with the technical aspects of the theme of the day.
Four routes are possible, each adaptable according to the eras studied:
– Defend Nice,
– Build Nice,
– Feed Nice,
– Entertain Nice.
Workshops outside school hours
The priority of the Nice City Heritage Center is to disseminate culture, and more specifically the architectural and historical heritage of Nice, to all audiences.
This is why various workshops have been set up, outside school hours, for children aged 8 to 12, aiming to raise their awareness of Heritage.
The workshops are organized over two weeks and are spread throughout the school holidays (for now, during the months of July and August). The goal is to awaken children’s curiosity so that they become interested in the fields of History, Architecture, and Urban Planning.
The themes have been set up to facilitate this approach, and they will be approached in ways that allow participants to renew their interest during different sessions.
They will start with a sensory approach to the environment (for example baroque, neoclassical architecture…) which will allow for a better understanding of the different characteristics of the chosen eras.
Each day of the session will include a three-hour discovery workshop in the afternoon (which can be called “Rendez-vous with…”) with an encounter with an artisan or a scientist who can pass on their knowledge or techniques.
Thus, the workshops might answer questions such as “How was the city of Nice defended in the Middle Ages?”, “How was a knight equipped?” or even “Why did the Nice castle disappear?”
The pedagogy of experimentation
The concept of living history was born in Great Britain at the beginning of the 1970s. This approach to history is the fruit of collaboration between passionate academics and archaeologists who try to recreate as faithfully as possible the life of past civilizations. For this purpose, they make use of objects whose aspects are derived from written, iconographic, archaeological, and museographic sources.
To this notion, the idea of experimental archaeology should be added. This discipline aims to be an auxiliary science of archaeology and history. Its purpose is to put into practice the theories of various scientists in order to validate or refute elements such as techniques or the lifespan of constructions. This will allow clarifying abstract notions through experimentation. The approach used to achieve these goals thus involves reconstruction, fabrication, and practice.
Living history holds significant interest because it possesses undeniable prestige in the eyes of the world. Indeed, all audiences are captivated because it allows scientists to provide answers to their research and allows visitors to observe and learn.
Thus, interactivity is established in the form of communication and exchange, allowing the school audience to obtain concrete elements that will complement what has been achieved through the patrimonial approach.
This project is therefore designed in close collaboration with historical reenactment groups, experimentation, and scientists.
The aim is indeed to lead as many people as possible to discover and take ownership of the heritage through visual and interactive events.
