A French organization, Vieilles Maisons Francaises (VMF), specialising in preserving French heritage mansions across the globe, will launch its Indian chapter French Heritage in India in Puducherry, a former French enclave.
Established in 1958 in France, VMF is presently the largest French heritage society with 20,000 members and 95 regional offices. The society, which strives hard to protect and preserve French architectural heritage, supports important heritage restoration projects with special awards. In the last 30 years, it has awarded 1,400 prizes extending 4.8 million Euros as prize money. It suggests guidelines to government and non-governmental organizations and individuals for protection of architectural heritage.
The new chapter with its base in Puducherry will work towards protecting existing French heritage structures all over the country. To start with, it will make an inventory of important heritage buildings in the country and involve a team of experts in respective regions, who will help in preserving the unique heritage structures.
VMF president Philippe Toussaint will formally launch the chapter in a function on March 4 at Le Cafe on the Beach Road. To mark the occasion, the society has also announced two special awards for the tourism department and a hotel giant for restoring heritage buildings Le Caf' on the Beach Road and Hotel Maison Perumal - to their past glory. Both the buildings are more than 150 years old.
The building which presently houses Le Cafe, a cafeteria run by the tourism department, is one of the distinctive French architectural structures in Puducherry while the other building, which is converted into a heritage hotel, is a typical Tamil architectural structure. Le Caf' was the old port office while the other structure housed the taluk office. Indian National Trust for Art and Cultural Heritage (INTACH) helped the government and the hotel giant in the restoration of the buildings.
"The launch of Indian chapter of the French organization here will give the much-required impetus for protection and preservation of priceless heritage structures here," INTACH co-convenor Ashok Panda told The Times of India.
He was of the strong opinion that the presence of the French society in Puducherry will enlighten all sections of people about heritage monuments. "The chapter will undertake a series of programmes to sensitize the public, particularly the students, on heritage preservation. It will also train professionals in India on heritage conservation besides helping the local artisans in improving their skills and marketing their products," he said.
The VMF has also taken up environmental issues and has initiated a campaign against theft and sale of antiques.
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