As part of the consultation prior to the “Tribute to Heroes” project, a public meeting takes place this Tuesday evening (6:30 p.m.) at the village hall of Arromanches (Calvados). The project leaders will answer questions from the audience. Opponents and supporters of this scenic creation on the Landing and the Battle of Normandy already met in August in Carentan (Manche), where it will be located. The first visitors should be welcomed in 2025. Richard Lenormandgeneral director of the “Tribute to heroes” project, was the guest of France Blue Normandy.
France Bleu: Can you give us the outline of the project?
Richard Lenormand: “Tribute to heroes”, in a few words, it is a scenic creation on the Landing and the Battle of Normandy. Much emphasis is placed on the Battle of Normandy, which is the least talked about episode in history. An extremely innovative scenic creation since it is a hybrid form of creation. Since we’re going to have historical archival footage. We are going to have a live performance, so with actors, and we are going to have something that is unique in the world: a theater of 1000 people who will move over 400 meters with its audience and it moves to be able to have a succession of scenes . Thirty paintings ranging from the preparation for the D-Day to the Liberation of Paris.”
Why are you holding a meeting in Arromanches this Tuesday evening?
“Because it is a project on the Landing and the Battle of Normandy which is intended to settle in Carentan les Marais. But the Landing sites, they go over a much wider area than Carentan. They go generally from Sainte -Marie-du-Mont in Ouistreham and so it seemed interesting to us to meet the public in other places: Arromanches to get a little closer to Ouistreham and then Cherbourg which was not a landing site but which was a strategic objective of the Landings.”
Do you want to convince the population?
“To convince? Yes, to explain, to exchange and to debate. The principle of prior consultation, prior to a project under the observation of a guarantor, is effectively to present the project to the public. And that is to receive his remarks, his questions, these questions, in order to be able, if necessary, to develop the project.”
With contributions also online. There were 216 this morning. Do you read them?
“Not only do we read them, but we respond to them. We respond to each of the remarks. A certain number of major themes that come up regularly. There are people “for”, a lot of “for. There are people “against”. We will respond to everyone.”
The ecological impact of your project is worrying. Where are your studies?
“On the environment, we put the same seriousness and the same respect as we put on the historical part. This is something that we took very early on. So we are very concerned about biodiversity, the areas damp, light pollution. All this is in progress. It must be completed for the filing of the planning permit. But I think that on the environmental part, we have an advantage that others do not have. You know , the major tourist sites, today, they manage their transition towards what is called sustainable tourism. We, as we are starting from scratch, we integrate, from the design stage, all the best practices in terms of sustainable tourism.”
Especially on renewable energies? There is also talk of rising energy costs.
“We had already integrated a renewable energy part, in particular with photovoltaic panels. We studied the various possible solutions and it is the photovoltaic panels that prevail.”
On the historical aspect, where are you? The project is submitted to the Mémorial de Caen, to its director Stéphane Grimaldi?
“We are working very well with the director of the Mémorial de Caen, but also with his teams to enter into a partnership with the Mémorial de Caen when the time comes. Why do I say when the time comes? Because the teams at the Mémorial need to have perfect visibility of the content of our show. Which is quite normal. A few weeks ago, we gave them a note on historical architecture which explains the major choices of stages that we are going to retain in our show. And this note is currently being examined by the Caen Memorial teams.”