The French pavilion at the 30th Doha International Book Fair being held at Doha Exhibition and Convention Center. Pics: Baher Amin / The Peninsula
The intellectual exuberance of the Age of Enlightenment when reason and advancing ideals dominated thinkers, academics and truth seekers during the 18th century Europe comes alive at the 30th Doha International Book Fair through the pavilion of France – the fair’s guest of honour.
France’s major participation in the 10-day book fair being held at Doha Exhibition and Convention Center (DECC) is deeply aligned with Qatar-France 2020 Year of Culture which officially launched on Friday.
“It is a great honour for France to have been identified as the guest of honour this year’s Doha International Book Fair which, in its 30th edition, marks quite a remarkable achievement,” said Franck Gellet, Ambassador of France to Qatar while speaking to local media at the opening of the book fair.
Gellet pointed out that the concept of the French pavilion parallels with the book fair’s theme which is “Do you then not ponder?”
“We on the French side decided to take the same theme from the Age of Enlightenment, a time in our intellectual history when philosophers, academics, writers thought a lot about what reason could bring to knowledge and wisdom,” he said.
He said visitors to the pavilion would not only enjoy an array of books on the Age of Enlightenment but also a number of other interesting features such as an exhibition of ancient books from that period from the Qatar National Library (QNL) collection, some of which were being translated to Arabic.
Coffee table books on French historical monuments and classics of 18th century luminaries from Voltaire to Jean-Jacques Rousseau to Denis Diderot are among the books on show in the pavilion.
“They will also see an interesting presentation of new digital technology by which it is now possible to virtually visit monuments in the stage when they were built. This is done by the Center for National Monuments (CMN) — the authority which has the task to preserve the monuments in France and has also published many books on the historical heritage of France,” he added.
Histovery, a French company which provides cutting-edge technology to showcase monuments, museums, and tourist sites has worked with CMN to offer visitors “augmented visit” to monuments using their tablet called HistoPad.
“In France we use the new digital media to attract more visitors inside museums and monuments,” said Mathilde Michaut of Histovery, adding that they are presenting for the first time in Qatar the HistoPad of the Conciergerie.
The Conciergerie is the oldest remaining part of the Palais de la Cité, the royal residence of the kings of France and the prison of Marie Antoinette during the French Revolution.
“With the HistoPad of the Conciergerie, we were able to reconstruct all the rooms as they were in the past, back in the Middle Ages and the French Revolution,” she said, adding that using the HistoPad visitors see a 360-degree reconstruction of the place.
“The visitors will be able to understand the function of each room as they walk in. They will be able to understand the great arts of Middle Ages - the fact that Middle Ages was a time full of colours in Europe, or the fact that during the French Revolution they had several different ways of living in the prisons in France and so on,” she explained.
So far, they have already produced HistoPads for 15 monuments in France, the most famous of which are the Chateau de Chambord, Pope’s Palace in Avignon and the Conciergerie in Paris, she added.
The new platform has been met with enthusiastic response from visitors since its launch in 2013. “We have registered an increase in audience in a lot of heritage sites that we equipped. For example the first one we equipped which was the Castle of William the Conqueror started with 35,000 visitors per year, three years after they have 80,000 so it’s more than doubled,” she said.
“We are very glad to introduce it here. In France, it has gained a lot of success. We are always developing at least four to five projects a year and we would love to work in this region,” she added.
Presented in partnership with FNAC, QNL and CMN, the French pavilion also holds lectures as well as workshops for children. The venue of the book fair has been decked up featuring some elements of French architecture. Visitors will feel like in a Paris square with cafes where they can enjoy a good coffee with the book they have just purchased.
