Emmanuel Macron may be the youngest president of the Ve republic, surrounding himself with advisers in his thirties and wanting to champion the “start-up nation”, he is reluctant to get rid of veterans of culture. After being rejected in December 2022 by the Council of State a draft decree aimed at extending beyond reasonable Catherine Pgard, 68, at the head of the Palace of Versailles, the tenant of the Elysee Palace found the parade to keep Philippe Bélaval, soon to be 68 years old, by his side. This senior official, whose mandate at the head of the Center des Monuments Nationaux expires on June 30, has just been appointed cultural adviser to the Elysée, a strategic post, which has remained vacant since Rima Abdul Malak was promoted to Minister of Culture. in May 2022.
For the enarque and State Councillor, to whom it has not escaped that most government decisions in terms of culture, in particular appointments, are taken at the Elysée, this is the ultimate consecration.
The choice of this man in the field rather than in the shadows will not surprise those familiar with the palace. “Emmanuel and Brigitte Macron love it! », recognizes the television presenter Stéphane Bern, instigator of the Loto du patrimoine. It was the President of the Republic himself who presented him, on September 15, with the insignia of the Legion of Honor, at the Hôtel de la Marine, in front of an audience of one hundred and fifty guests sorted on the shutter. Philippe Bélaval does not hide it, he often sees Emmanuel Macron and regularly sends him notes on subjects related to heritage. “But I’m not going to pretend to be an intimate of the first circlehe whispers. I stay in my place, I serve without being servile. »
Replica of a firefighter’s helmet from the National Library of France (BNF), sample of the silver fabric with which Christo had wrapped the Arc de Triomphe, snow globe from the Conciergerie with the effigy of Marie-Antoinette, replica of a Egyptian head from the Al Thani collection on display at the Hôtel de la Marine… In Philippe Bélaval’s office at the Hôtel de Sully, gifts and trinkets testify to his impressive CV in the civil service.
At the age of 35, this Toulousain directed the Paris Opera, then the BNF and the Archives of France, before piloting for ten years the Center of National Monuments (CMN), a war machine of one thousand five hundred agents who cover a hundred monuments. “It’s a house that I love passionately, I haven’t had a moment of boredom there”confides this great beast of the administration, as skilful and enveloping as a cardinal of the XVIIe century.
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