The permanent exhibition
At theMemorial Charles de Gaulle, history is embodied and re-enacted.
The visitor is successively plunged into the atmosphere of different periods, with the technological equipment acting as a sort of interpretation centre that allows each one of us to discover the personality of Charles de Gaulle and immerse ourselves in the great events of history thanks to explanatory and educational texts.
The Memorial looks at all aspects of Charles de Gaulle and his time. The permanent exhibition considers the General as a writer, as the leader of Free France, as a father and as a politician; it also appraises the legacy he left behind and the criticisms and caricatures which he inspired. The visitor relives the great pages of history through the private life of the man.
Spread over 1,600 square metres, the permanent exhibition looks at its subject from an unusual angle: Charles de Gaulle’s attachment to the village of Colombey-les-deux-églises and the surrounding countryside.
The visit takes place over two floors and is divided up into a chronological series of sequences, each of which is developed in greater detail by means of special areas partly devoted to de Gaulle’s private life.
The entrance to the exhibition is on the second floor of the Memorial and is reached by the lift symbolising the “V” for victory salute and General de Gaulle’s raised arms.
Handicapped visitors can also take the lift up to the Cross of Lorraine.
The permanent exhibition in detail
The second floor covers the period running from 1890 to 1946 and is divided into 3 sequences.
Colombey-les-deux-églises, “a de Gaulle country”
“This land reflected him, just as he reflected the land” - Jacques Chaban-Delmas.
Upon entering the exhibition, the close link between Charles de Gaulle and the austere grandeur of the landscape is immediately apparent. After this first encounter with nature in Colombey, the visitor is again confronted with nature inside the building.
The various sequences on this floor are devoted to de Gaulle’s early life, his early military career and his arrival at Colombey-les-deux-églises.
A military in Colombey-les-deux-églises
This exhibition space is about the time period going from the 1930’s to June 1940, when Germany invaded France.
The War seen through the Mémoires
The activities of Charles de Gaulle in the course of the Second World War take up a considerable part of the exhibition. It details three time periods :
- The Call 1940-1942
- Unity 1942-1944
- Salvation 1944-46: France on the side of the winners
The rupture represented by de Gaulle’s stepping down from power in 1946 is symbolised in the exhibition by a change in floor level. Visitors go down to the first floor to discover the period from 1946 to 1970, that is to say from the “years in the wilderness” to the funeral at Colombey-les-deux-églises.
1946-1958: in the wilderness
As we move downstairs, we are once more confronted with the landscapes of Colombey. Looking out through a wide picture window, we can take in the same sweeping views that the General used to admire from his office in La Boisserie. We then move on to the troubled period of May 1958 when the crisis built up between Paris and Algiers and unravelled at Colombey-les-deux-églises.
The de Gaulle years
The return to power and de Gaulle’s actions as President of the French Republic are analysed in an unbiased way. Visitors can study all aspects of the public figure, in particular the main strands of his policies in the fields of modernisation and international relations, not forgetting the very special ties binding him to the French people
Colombey, land of de Gaulle
The last scenographic sequence evokes the General’s death after his final return to Colombey and examines what remains in the collective memory of Gaullism and the General today.
- “Return to La Boisserie”. From the writing of Mémoires d’Espoir to the General’s death.
- “Mourning at Colombey-les-Deux Eglises”. While the great of this world pay homage to the General in Paris, the ordinary men and women of France press silently around the little parish church in the village. Visitors to the Memorial share this reverence as they watch the images of this day.
“The memory of General de Gaulle”.
At the end of the visit we find ourselves in front of the General’s great figure onto which various images are projected, reproducing the pages of a book and evoking the Memoirs of de Gaulle.