The Parisian headquarters of the International Union of Railways (UIC), the association representing railway companies on a global scale, opened its doors to the public for the first time. The visit to its exceptional heritage, coupled with an exhibition featuring artworks, posters, and historical films from SARDO, highlighted all these years of international cooperation and innovation.
The 40th edition of the European Heritage Days
Every year, Heritage Days take place on the third weekend of September. This essential cultural event invites us to invest in our most beautiful treasures to (re)discover our heritage in all its forms through a vast program of visits, animations, workshops, and other surprises.
In 2023, SARDO participated in the Heritage Days by organizing guided tours of its Personnel Archives Center in Béziers and offering an exhibition on the 100 years of the UIC, which opened its headquarters for the first time in its century-long history.
Photographies de Laure Maley, responsable de la médiathèque de Drancy
Photographies de Anne SAVOIE, SARDO
Every year, the National Center for Personnel Archives (CNAP) visits students and opens its doors to the public for Heritage Days.
This year, the CNAP coordinator met with a 4th-grade class from Alfred Crouzet Middle School in Servian during the Heritage Day event for middle school students on September 15th. The students had the opportunity to learn about what Heritage Day means in general and the role of the archive center within the company. A video introduced them to the facilities and the various missions of an archive center: collecting, organizing, preserving, and sharing. They were also given a booklet at the end of the meeting.
On September 16th and 17th, the center opened its doors to the public, and an activity titled “Match at the Top at the SNCF Personnel Archives” was offered. The “Traces de Travailleurs” team met the “Traces de Retraités” team. The goal was to join one of the teams and thus explore the archive holdings of the center.
As a bonus, visitors had the opportunity to take a behind-the-scenes tour of the center and the possibility of tracing back their ancestors who worked as railway employees!
Photographies du SARDO CNAP