Le Cheminement des Sculptures and its events:

Since 1994, a selection of contemporary sculptures is displayed outside on the heights of the medieval village and in the heart of the former Hospices.
The ground floor is dedicated to documentation concerning the sculptures selected ( a file containing information on the 300 sculptures exposed over the years from 106 artists, as well as artistic and cultural reviews). There are also articles on the history of the Hospices (photos of its restoration, archive documents) and an area for the communication of Gigondas known as « Image du Terroir ». Upstairs, the exposition halls contain sculptures, installations, and drawings by the sculptors.

On the ground floor the vaulted rooms are used by the Cru Gigondas to welcome their professional meetings, tasting rooms, and an ageing cellar for Gigondas wines. Visitors are offered a glass of « Cuvée des Hospices » to accompany their visit. This cuvée is carefully selected every year via blind tasting by a jury of tasters to be the wine that best represents that year’s Gigondas wine.

The month of November marks the renewal of sculptures and installation on various areas of the site. The new sculptures are officially « revealed » on the 1st Saturday evening in June with a celebratory buffet and concert with the artists themselves.

The new installation 2010 welcomes this summer “La Vie des formes” : international yard of experimental creation in Chalon-sur-Saône, on a selection of Yvain Bornibus, with Caroline Barray, Laurent Baude, Patrice Belin, Fredéric Godard, Djamila Hanafi, Grégoire Bergeret, Alain Sagaert, Jean-François Coadou, Margaret Michel, Teruhisa Suzuki, Sylvie Pic, Régina Falkenberg, Paul Stapleton, Markus Strieder,David Jones….

There is direct access by car with a car parking next to the church. For those arriving by bus, there is parking in the centre of the village and then is a 10 minute walk to the Hospices (no handicapped access).

Hospice public opening times:

Wednesday to Sunday:
November to March: 14h to17h
April and May: 11h to 12h30 and 14h to 18h
June/September and October: 14h to 18h

In summer:
Everyday from: 10h30to 12h30 and 14h30 to 18h30

Open Bank Holidays – Sculpture Promenade free all year round.

Gigondas d'Hier et d'Aujourd'hui
Les Hospices
84190 GIGONDAS
Tél: 04 90 65 80 76
e-mail: gigondasHA@wanadoo.fr

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The magnificent outside theatre located at the Hospices, welcomes visitors within its walls (medieval ramparts and former round walls). The festival of the « Soirée Lyriques » (Lyrical Evenings) has been organised since 1994 and takes place every year during the first two weeks of August.

The Lyrical Evenings were brought to life in 1993 under the initiative of Rolland Gaudin, Mayor of Gigondas and Christian Meffre, the Deputy Mayor and the person in charge of culture in order to compliment and take advantage of the outside theatre. It’s Paul-Emile Fourny, then Directeur of Nice Opera who proposed the idea to create a lyrical festival.

From then on, the goal of this event began to take form: discover and encourage the young talents of lyrical art, as well as developing the programs with the creation in 1996 of a Chamber Opera with Bastien Bastienne de Mozart and finally to propose recitals from well known musicians.

Placed under the « guidance » of Alain Fondary, les Soirées Lyriques have grown over the years.

For the moment 12 Chamber Operas have been played in the outside theatre including « Tosca », « La Bohème » and more than 70 young artists have come to sing in Gigondas.

In 2010 Mozart’s Don Giovanni was played (as it was in 1998). The recital was dedicated to Spanish composers and with a performance from the award winning young soprano Maria Mirante.

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