France’s remarkable scientific, technological and industrial heritage demonstrates its rich history in IT and computer science. The preservation of this heritage is as of today distributed over the country’s territory, and handled by a multitude of private, public or non-profit organizations. To celebrate the European Heritage Days of 2025, a number of actors will for the second year in a row organize a rich program on the subject of IT and its history. The ultimate goal is the creation of a National Museum for computer science. [version française]
Save the date !
⚪ Saturday September 20th 2025 : four simultaneous events in Belfort, Lyon, Grenoble and Sophia Antipolis
⚪ Sunday September 21st 2025 in Sophia Antipolis (Southern France) : an exceptional international day on IT heritage (reservation)
Would you like to support this event? We’re looking for sponsors !
| .. |
Saturday September the 20th 2025 – Simultaneous openings of emblematic locations
Participate in a rich program around the discovery of IT and its history by choosing among the simultaneous events at different iconic locations (see details of 2024’s event) or be everywhere at once by following our online coverage!
| .. |
⚪ Live Twitch and Youtube streaming by MO5.com
Streaming: https://www.twitch.tv/mo5assoretro
- 11h – 11h45. The official accreditation of the French Demoscene.
- 14h – 15h. Guided tour of the IN2P3 Computing Center + history of AI conference.
- 15h10 – 15h50. Guided tour of Terra Numerica Sophia.
- 17h – 17h55. Guided tour of ACONIT.
- 18h – 18h15. Sunday’s programme announcement !
⚪ Bull and Unit Record equipment museum in Belfort
Neither touchscreen nor any keyboard with an « @ »-key will be on display in this museum. Rather expect huge machines of another era like you used to see them in a unit record equipment workshop. You will discover working devices like the « Pelerod » punch card reader, the « trad 80 » translator, the « E12 » sorting machine or the amazing « BS 120 » tabulating machine. Literally the Rolls-Royce of its time, it was able to print 150 lines per minute, the world record between 1934 and 1951! The other half of the museum exhibits a large selection of typing and printing devices that were manufactured in Belfort between 1960 and 1992, as well as Bull’s very first tabulating machine « Mathilde ». The non-profit organizations’s sole objective is to preserve its unique, rich and functional heritage.
Full Programme.
Location : 5 rue Jacqueline Auriol, 90000 Belfort.
Hours : 9h-12h et 14h-18h (4 demos per day : 9h30, 11h00, 14h00 and 16h00).
Free entrance.
⚪ IN2P3 Computing Centre(CNRS) in Lyon
The Centre de Calcul de l’IN2P3 is a french research infrastructure for CNRS, the « National Scientific Research Centre ». Its 2 (soon 3) data-centres located in Villeurbanne on the LyonTech-La Doua campus manage the data of the largest physics experiments. Since the creation of its museum in 2011 it is involved in the preservation of its IT heritage, a rare initiative in Fance. It is also at CC-IN2P3 that the first French web site was born in 1992, one of the first few in the world.
Full Programme.
Location : Centre de Calcul de l’IN2P3, 21 avenue Pierre de Coubertin, 69100 Villeurbanne.
Hours : 10h-18h.
Free entrance, reservation required for some activities.
| .. |
⚪ Terra Numerica Sophia (CNRS, Inria, Université Côte d’Azur) in Sophia Antipolis
Located in Sophia Antipolis’ Technopole in southern France, Terra Numerica is an emblematic venue for scientific and digital culture outreach for everyone. Backed by CNRS, Inria and University of Côte d’Azur, Terra Numerica is participating in more than 300 scientific events every year using an original, attractive and unique formula. A place for enjoyment, meeting, and sharing for all the members of the digital community (academics, teachers, schools, general public, private companies).
Programme : workshop experimenting and discovery of historic artifacts.
Location : Terra Numerica, 18 rue Frédéric Mistral, 06560 Valbonne Sophia Antipolis.
Hours : 14h-16h and 16h-18h.
Free entrance, reservation required.
| .. |
⚪ ACONIT Collection in Grenoble
ACONIT is a non-profit organization whose goals are the preservation, outreach and future development of IT throughout its history. This includes hardware, software, intellectual expertise. Since its creation ACONIT has gathered a collection of multiple thousands of artefacts from the beginning of the 20th century to today.
Programme : Rediscover IT’s history from the first mechanical computers, punch cards, mainframes, mini and micro-computers. A voyage across the 20th century. The Guided tour is followed up by demos, workshops and retro-gaming.
Location : 12 Rue Joseph Rey Grenoble
Hours : 10h-12h, 14h-16h and 16h-18h.
On-line booking.
| .. |
Sunday September 21th 2025 – Exceptional Event in Sophia Antipolis, Région Sud
A day dedicated to the refounding of an ambitious project around IT heritage. It will take place at Terra Numerica Sophia. The presentations and roundtable discussions will be held in english and french. Among the speakers are french and international specialists on IT preservation:
- 10h – 10h15. Introduction of speakers.
- Terra Numerica Sophia guided tour: workshops and IT heritage.
- (GAMM), Rome, Italy & Computer Spiele Museum, Berlin, Germany : Museum’s history, partnerships and operation.
- 11h30 – 12h15. Official launch and Official speeches.
- HomeComputerMuseum, Helmond, The Netherlands: history and operation.
-
16h – 16h45. France IT heritage Project: project presentation, state of the art, collective discussion of the future, organization and operation of the consortium.
-
17h – 18h30. Closing ceremony.
Streaming: https://www.twitch.tv/mo5assoretro
The event is free of charge but reservation required from 13h30.
For professionals, it’s also free of charge and reservation is required from 9h30.
Sponsoring
To reach out is to revive a precious technological heritage, so important to guide us through tomorrow’s great challenges: #digital transition, #education, #inclusion, #environment. Our country harbors an exceptional computer science heritage, still mostly unknown to the general public. Be it the first computers, opensource software, networks, languages, games or hardware innovations, their legacy is spread across the whole french territory and cradled by private, non-profits and a few public organizations.
In order to give this event the extent it deserves, we need your financial support. Your contribution will allow us to cover transport, accomodation and reception of external participants, as well as logistics.
Every single contribution will be emphasized with a regional, national and european visibility. Don’t hesitate to contact us: partenariats@terra-numerica.org.