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Heritage mediation training

Summer courses in Vézelay

Heritage mediation training with the Maison du Visiteur de Vézelay gives participants the opportunity to learn about the profession of guide in an exceptional setting and under privileged conditions.

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Guide training

Heritage mediation

France has an exceptional historical and cultural heritage that is recognised the world over. Heritage mediators play a key role in guiding visitors. The Basilica of Sainte-Marie-Madeleine in Vézelay, a World Heritage site, is one of the greatest masterpieces of Romanesque architecture. This "mecca" of Christian spirituality since the 9th century is one of the world's most important sites of pilgrimage.e Today, almost a million visitors a year flock to the museum.

Its architecture and sculptures (tympanums and historiated capitals) express a vision of the world with no break between man, the cosmos and God. This harmonious unity appeals to visitors of the 21st century.e Romanesque symbolism, which is Christian in essence, is universal in character.

heritage mediation training

With the Maison du Visiteur

Since its inauguration in 2003, the Visitors' Centre has been helping a wide variety of visitors to discover the basilica. Visits are organised in two stages. During the first stage, visitors are given the keys to understanding the Romanesque world and its symbolism in the rooms of the Visitors' Centre.

On the second stage, accompanied by their guide, they visit the basilica and discover the majesty of the site through an original architectural experience. It's a richly rewarding experience for both visitors and guide. During the two-hour visit, everyone is invited to take part in an enriching discovery.

Vézelay summer courses

Being a guide in Vézelay with the Maison du Visiteur, what does it mean ?

A global approach

The Maison du Visiteur guide takes visitors on a tour of the Basilica of Vézelay, inviting them to take a holistic approach to the site: architecture, symbols, construction methods, historical context, etc.

Revealing the meaning of this architecture through the sensory experience is a priority: making people look and giving them an understanding are constantly combined during the visit.

Immersion in the basilica

Listening to the site as much as studying it is the key to learning. Meeting architecture in the same way that you meet someone means maintaining a conversation with the site, questioning it and yourself, welcoming it in all its aspects.

It also means having recourse to source texts which, in the monastic context of Vézelay, are primarily biblical texts and their commentaries. It means entering into the thinking of a culture with its values, signs and symbols.

Teamwork

The common concern for a warm welcome for visitors, the team meetings, the shared meals and the upkeep of the Visitor Centre are essential elements of daily life. They foster a sense of solidarity comparable to that of a creative team: the guides share their questions, their discoveries and their difficulties.

Being a facilitator

The guide is a ferryman from one shore to the other, from the world before us to the world within us. They don't try to convince. He invites you to marvel and to understand the intentions and laws of construction that underlie architecture. By making the stones speak, he conveys a living message, not just objective information or scholarly content reserved for the initiated. From this point of view, he is proposing that we enter into a knowledge in the original sense of the verb to know, "to be born with".

Acquiring a quality of presence and speech

Getting an unfamiliar audience to discover or rediscover the site in a short space of time requires a quality of presence and speech. In this respect, workshops in oral expression provide the means to experiment with peaceful speech based on breathing and supported by diction that makes it audible to all audiences.
The tour is based on a scenario whose key words and stages have been written down and validated by years of experience. This means that the guide in training doesn't have to invent or improvise everything, but is invited to follow a framework that will support him in his actions.

The ability to adapt

The diversity of visitors' ages, cultural, religious or philosophical backgrounds, the imponderables of the organisation, last-minute bookings - all these require flexibility and relaxation in order to deal with these delicate moments without tension; an ability to adapt that grows with time and experience.

Vézelay summer courses

summer courses in Vézelay with the Maison du Visiteur

Heritage mediation training

Objectives

  • The experience of mediating between an audience and an architectural masterpiece
  • Discover and/or learn more about Romanesque history and symbolism using the Basilica of Vézelay as a starting point

Duration

Minimum two months including July and August

Course

The trainee guide is accompanied by a tutor guide from the Visitor Centre.

  • Weeks 1 and 2 preparatory training.
  • Weeks 3 and 4 They guide the visit with the support of their tutor.
  • From 5e week It guides basic tours independently.

Preparatory training :
weeks 1 and 2

Origins and history, pilgrimages to Saint Mary Magdalene and Santiago de Compostela, Romanesque and Gothic architecture, reading the tympanums and several 12th-century historiated capitals, and the symbolism of light. This learning is done in a lively and progressive way by accompanying the different guides of the Visitor Centre on their public visits.

  • "The Basilica Unveiled" at the Maison du Visiteur Learn how to present the film "À l'ombre de la Lumière", how to read a plan, the orientation of the building, the play of light, measuring tools, etc.
    The content of this course is sent to students in advance so that they can memorise as much of it as possible before the course.
  • "Guided tour of the Basilica of Vézelay Learn about the symbolism of the different spaces (Galilee, nave, choir, crypt), the rituals of pilgrims, and how to read the great interior tympanum and several historiated capitals.

Presence in front of an audience, elocution and clarity of expression, voice-emotion-body harmony.

Reading reference works.

Practical experience :
week 3 to end of course

Initially in pairs with a guide, then independently. One or two visits a day, alternating with the tutor guides.

Access to the guides' library and personal introduction to the basilica.

  • Improving the content of tours, participating in the communication and dissemination of tours, participating in the maintenance and harmony of reception areas.
  • The lunches shared with the guides and the tutor provide an opportunity for questions and exchanges that enrich the student's training.

Evaluation

  • Progress report Every week with the tutor: assessment of learning,
    team life and relations with the public.
  • Personalised reviews with the tutor after the visits.
  • Personalised assessment oral at the end of the course with the tutor and another guide.
  • Balance sheet written staff sent to the tutor.

To be eligible for training

  • Be in the process of obtaining a bachelor's or master's degree preferably have followed or are following a course of study related to heritage: history, art history, architecture, archaeology, etc.
  • Taking an interest in medieval society.
  • Developing the ability to relate to others in order to meet and support a wide range of audiences.
  • Coming to Vézelay meet the team the Visitor's House: allow around 48 hours to discover the context.
  • Send a covering letter and CV to Hélène Ramin (heleneramin@wanadoo.fr) and Élisabeth Toulet (elisabethtoulet@wanadoo.fr)
sculptures basilica Vézelay

Reception conditions

  • Half-board and accommodation at the Maison du Visiteur paid for by the association.
  • Bonus possible under an agreement with the university or training institute (from week 3).

Head of Education

Hélène Ramin : heleneramin@wanadoo.fr

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heritage mediation training