Part of the "Ocean (Openness)" phase of the FARO project, conducted in Marseille under the aegis of Aix-Marseille Université, the public restitution of the Ambassadeurs Citoyens program at the Musée d'Histoire de Marseille brought together the voices of Noailles, Air Bel, Bourrély and Frais Vallon.
Mónica Esteves Reis, a lecturer in the Department of Portuguese and Brazilian Studies (DEPB) and a participant in the FARO project, helped link these field experiences to the reflections of the Eduardo Lourenço Chair, showing how heritage becomes a place for dialogue between research, memory and civic engagement.
Ambassadeurs Citoyens: sharing heritage at the Musée d'Histoire de Marseille - On Wednesday 1ᵉʳ April 2026, the Musée d'Histoire de Marseille hosted the public restitution of the Ambassadeurs Citoyens program, the central event of the Marseille phase of the FARO project, a CIVIS Open Lab initiative. This final phase, entitled " Ocean (Openness) ", is supported locally by Aix-Marseille Université, through the CIVIS Open Lab, the Department of Cultural Mediation, headed by Judith Dehail and responsible for supervising student projects via Prosper Wanner. Master's students, residents of the Noailles, Air Bel, Bourelly and Frais Vallon neighborhoods, cultural mediators, institutional partners and grassroots associations shared the results of a year's work on heritage mediation in an urban context.
The FARO project: from Bucharest to Marseille, four cities, four phases - As part of the CIVIS European University Alliance, the FARO project explored, in four cities, how the Council of Europe's Framework Convention on the Value of Cultural Heritage for Society (Faro Convention, 2005) can inspire inclusive, community-based approaches to urban heritage:
- University of Bucharest | Bucarest - Flow (Acknowledgment): historical identity and minorities in the making of the city ;
- Universidad Autónoma de Madrid | Madrid - Aquifer (Documentation): multilingualism and discourse as heritage;
- Sapienza Roma | Rome - Ripple (Integration): participatory museography and difficult heritages;
- Aix-Marseille Université | Marseille - Ocean (Openness): civic engagement, urban walks and public mediation of heritage.
In Marseille, the Ocean phase aims to "take" heritage out of the university and work on it with schools, associations and local residents, through urban walks, workshops and a final event open to the public.
