The Sensible Approach to Heritage Transforms Guided Tours in Calvados …

Workshop presented by TAMS with the Heritage Conservation Department of Calvados and Calvados Attractivité Calvados, the third-largest French department in terms of classified heritage, has chosen to reconnect with its heritage through the senses. Here, there are no tablets or augmented reality. The visitor becomes an active participant in the experience, guided by lecturers trained in the pedagogies of a sensitive approach to heritage. The body learns, and the entire guiding profession is transforming. Since 2021, Calvados Attractivité and the Heritage Service of the Département have launched the Etonnants Patrimoines program, which offers a series of multisensory tours with a common thread around cinema. These are intergenerational visits, adapted for families:

• Visits where everyone is a participant, having fun, and contributing to understanding and learning
• Immersive tours into a place, a story
• Tours that tell not only the grand history but also the smaller, personal stories of places and people
• Autonomous visits or those accompanied by a guide

In 2022, Etonnants Patrimoines created 26 visits across 200 dates. In 2022:

• 50 dates
• 23 different tours were part of the Etonnants Patrimoines program
• 3 concepts for self-guided exploration tours
• 2,100 visitors participated
• 8 sites: Châteaux de Canon, Crèvecoeur, Saint Germain de Livet, Colombières, Pontécoulant, the Garden of Manou, the Mill Museum, the Mine Museum
• 2 tourist offices: Deauville, Trouville
• 9 guides offering tours either individually or in partnership with tourist offices in cities such as Trévières, Cabourg, Houlgate, Honfleur, Caen, and also in sites like the Saint Pierre en Auge Abbey, Château du Carel, Manoir de la Motte, Château-Ganne, Prieuré Saint Gabriel, the Mine Museum, the Church of Bernières-sur-mer
• The Normandy Museum, through family visits to the Action! exhibition

Speakers:

• Bruno Tamaillon – Director of TAMS CONSULTANTS, specializing in family and youth tourism; creator and trainer in Sensitive Approach to Heritage (art-history-nature); adventure tours and escape games
• Anne-Cécile Vaccaro – In charge of heritage valorization for the Department of Calvados. Anne-Cécile joined the department’s communication service in 1990 and the heritage service in 2005. Her mission is to promote universal access to the heritage of Calvados and raise awareness among the owners of historical buildings about new visitor practices to meet public demands. The Norman festival Pierres en Lumières, the Cinema and Heritage, Social and Heritage, and Etonnants Patrimoines initiatives promote heritage discovery for all audiences, whether familiar with culture or not.
• Catherine Mainard – Network Coordinator, Thematic Universes Department, Calvados Attractivité. Calvados Attractivité is the department's promotional agency responsible for tourist attraction (promoting the destination to tourists) and residential attraction (encouraging new residents and talent to move in). In charge of the heritage universe, Catherine coordinates the Etonnants Patrimoines network, created in 2020, which brings together guides, tourist offices, and tourist sites (museums, castles, manor houses, etc.). She also works on enhancing medieval sites and sites related to memory tourism.