Situated some 80km northeast of Paris in the Aisne department of Hauts-de-France, Villers-Cotterêts is the birthplace in 1802 of French novelist Alexandre Dumas and the location of the Chateau de Villers Cotterêts.
Built in the 16th Century as a Royal hunting lodge, this masterpiece of Renaissance architecture has a rich history including the signing in 1539 of a decree imposing the French language in administrative and legal acts which were previously drafted in Latin then, after the revolution, as a barracks for the Republican army and a begging depot for the poor of the department of the Seine, before becoming a retirement home in 1889.
Following a major renovation project, The Château de Villers-Cotterêts is now reborn as the Cité Internationale de la Langue Française (International City of the French Language), open to the public for the first time and home to a 250-seat, fully modular auditorium for concerts, shows, presentation and discussions.
A NEXO GEO M10 system designed in collaboration with NEXO Engineering Support and supplied and installed by Lyon-based professional sound and stage lighting specialists Lagoona Integration ensures clear, full-range, dynamic sound with consistent coverage of both flat and tiered audiences for a wide variety of source material ranging from spoken word to live music and theatre events.
“The system at the Chateau de Villers Cotterêts comprises left and right main hangs of 5 x NEXO GEOM10 clusters, with 2 pairs of MSUB15s on the floor in cardioid mode to focus the LF coverage” explains Lagoona Integration Director General Frederic Bezard. “Compact NEXO ID24s are used as front fills and P10 monitors complete an all NEXO installation, with amplification and processing from 4 x NEXO NXAMPMk2.”
A museum to honour the French language was a promise made by Emmanuel Macron during his first presidential campaign back in 2017, so it was fitting that it was the French President who officially inaugurated The Cité Internationale de la Langue ahead of its opening on November 1st, 2023.
Speaking on behalf of NEXO, French Sales Manager Stéphane Brocard says “As a French manufacturer, it’s a huge honour for NEXO that our products have been chosen for such a prestigious and important project in French national life.”
