In preparation for the Paris 2024 Olympic and Paralympic Games, BPCE becomes one of the major patrons of Paris Musées and the first patron of the Petit Palais
Groupe BPCE companies will welcome their guests in these venues throughout the Paris 2024 Games.
Nicolas Namias, BPCE Management Board Chairman, and Anne-Sophie de Gasquet, Director of Paris Musées, signed a partnership and patronage agreement in favor of the Petit Palais on April 18.
Thanks to the agreement, a dedicated space within this architectural gem will become the “Petit Palais du Sport” for Groupe BPCE and its companies - Banque Populaire, Caisse d’Epargne, Casden Banque Populaire, Crédit Coopératif, Natixis, Banque Palatine and Oney - during the Paris 2024 Olympic and Paralympic Games, for which the Group is a premium partner.
The three-year partnership will see Groupe BPCE engage in three major initiatives. The Group will fund the restoration of the Petit Palais’ peristyle and its fresco. It will contribute to a new, responsible approach designed to highlight the museum’s permanent collections, including both masterpieces and works related to sport. Lastly, it will support work to improve the Petit Palais’ energy performance.
The “Petit Palais du Sport”, a venue for Groupe BPCE and its companies to welcome their guests during the Paris 2024 Games
Groupe BPCE and its companies - Banque Populaire, Caisse d’Epargne, Casden Banque Populaire, Crédit Coopératif, Natixis Investment Managers, Natixis Corporate & Investment Banking, Banque Palatine and Oney – will occupy several areas within the Petit Palais throughout the Paris 2024 Games. The museum will be rearranged to deliver an unforgettable experience to over 20,000 customer and staff guests. It will provide an opportunity for sharing emotions around sports events and a chance for Groupe BPCE to showcase to its guests the diversity of its business lines and its sports, cultural and societal commitments.
Restoration of the Petit Palais’ peristyle and fresco
Groupe BPCE saw the partnership as a way to commit to a long-term patronage initiative, by contributing to the restoration of the peristyle and its fresco that ring the Petit Palais’ garden, with the aim of leaving a lasting heritage after the Paris 2024 Games.
Created by the painter Paul Baudoüin in 1906, the monumental fresco titled “The Seasons and the Days” covers over 1,000m² and celebrates scenes of life through the use of rich allegorical motifs.
Restoration of the peristyle and the fresco is a collective challenge set to mobilize restorers and expert craftspeople, particularly specialists in fresco art and gilding. From a broader standpoint, it will highlight conservation-related professions and thereby stimulate interest in restoration and careers in the world of art.
A new visiting route for the Petit Palais’ permanent collections focused on “the body in motion”
Groupe BPCE companies wanted to harness the partnership to highlight the links between art and sport.
A new visiting route will be created and introduced by the Petit Palais within its permanent collections, which can be visited free of charge throughout the year and will remain open throughout the Paris 2024 Olympic and Paralympic Games. The new route will showcase the Petit Palais’ masterpieces and focus on the theme of the body in motion, through works ranging from the age of antiquity to the contemporary period, notably evoking dance, archery, swimming, cycling and sailing.
Work to improve the museum’s energy performance
Groupe BPCE will support the priority work incorporated in the Petit Palais’ Climate Plan and ISR (Institutional Social Responsibility) approach. This will particularly involve replacing the existing lighting in the museum’s main spaces with LED lighting, installing thermal solutions on windows, improving loft and roof insulation, and conducting an energy audit. This commitment is a tangible illustration of the Climate priority set by Groupe BPCE in its strategic plan, and which notably entails supporting the energy transition of buildings, an approach also central to Paris Musées’ ISR policy.
For Nicolas Namias, BPCE Management Board Chairman: “By becoming a grand patron of Paris Musées and a main patron of the Petit Palais, Groupe BPCE wanted to actively support the restoration of this architectural masterpiece. This commitment reflects our desire to leave a lasting heritage after the Paris 2024 Olympic and Paralympic Games, for which we are a premium partner. This temple of artistic and cultural heritage will house the “Petit Palais du Sport” during the Paris 2024 Games, a space where the Banque Populaire banks, the Caisse d’Epargne banks and Natixis’s business lines will be able to host our customers and employees from all our regions and share with them some exceptional sporting and cultural moments.”
For Carine Rolland, Deputy to the Mayor of Paris in charge of culture and the 15-minute city, President of Paris Musées, and Anne-Sophie de Gasquet, Director of Paris Musées: “Today marks the beginning of a strong, ambitious partnership with Groupe BPCE. By becoming a grand patron of Paris Musées, the Group is underlining its commitment to provide major support to the Petit Palais, the City of Paris’s fine arts museum, in a way beneficial to its architectural heritage, its sustainable policy and its programming, particularly on the occasion of the Paris 2024 Olympic and Paralympic Games.
Copyright: Marc Verhille ; Dominique Milherou ; Pierre Antoine
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About Groupe BPCE
Groupe BPCE is the second-largest banking group in France. Through its 100,000 staff, the group serves 35 million customers – individuals, professionals, companies, investors and local government bodies – around the world. It operates in the retail banking and insurance fields in France via its two major networks, Banque Populaire and Caisse d’Epargne, along with Banque Palatine and Oney. It also pursues its activities worldwide with the asset & wealth management services provided by Natixis Investment Managers and the wholesale banking expertise of Natixis Corporate & Investment Banking. The Group's financial strength is recognized by four credit rating agencies with the following senior preferred LT ratings: Moody's (A1, stable outlook), Standard & Poor's (A, stable outlook), Fitch (AA-, negative outlook) and R&I (A+, stable outlook).
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