2024-04-17 23:00:00
Vendée exaltation
It was in 1977 that Philippe de Villiers – a Vendée businessman and future politician with a strong right-wing influence – discovered the Puy du Fou castle, in ruins. A year later, the first performance was performed by more than 600 members of the Puy du Fou association. The Grand Parc was created in 1989 and offers a new show every year. A panoramic grandstand with 12,000 seats is built. The medieval city opened its stalls in 1995. Two years later, the main stage was extended by 5 hectares and the stand accommodated 2,000 additional spectators. The Gallo-Roman Stadium was inaugurated in 2001. Then came the construction of the Bourg 1900, then a village. The Grand Carrousel Equestre welcomed its first spectators in 2006. It was from 2007 that visitors could sleep on the site. They now have the choice between six hotels. Puy du Fou is chaired today by one of the sons of its founder, Nicolas de Villiers.
Some numbers
- 2,000 recruitments each year
- 1,081 people trained in 2023
- 250 different professions, on stage and behind the scenes
- 2.5 million visitors per year
- 55 hectares of surface
- Voted “best park in the world” in 2012 and 2014
- 75.3 million euros from CA in 2021
- 1 other park labeled Puy du Fou was built in Toledo, Spain, and inaugurated in 2021.
An independent park
Puy du Fou is a company with more than 2,500 employees. The stuntmen, actors, ushers or rescuers are the tip of the iceberg. The professions are varied, between the artistic teams, the animal caretakers, the operational teams, the support functions which ensure the management of the park… The recruitment site is also eloquent. For the moment, 42 positions are to be filled, including an assistant dog handler, technicians, a computer graphic designer, a gardener, a wigmaker, a cook, a bootmaker, a vaulting rider… All these offers are valid for men like for women. The group to which the park belongs is made up of two associations, La Cinéscénie and Puy du Fou Stratégie, and an SAS (simplified joint stock company). All employees are employees of the SAS. La Cinéscénie is made up of volunteers. The profits are reinvested in the various projects. It is an independent park which does not belong to any physical person. A 100% self-funded private initiative, it receives no public subsidies and has no shareholders.
Technology at the service of illusion
The park is distinguished by its life-size historical frescoes and special effects. In the Théâtre des Géants, the large grandstand rotates 720 degrees: it makes a full turn and three-quarters of a turn, in order to immerse the spectator in different settings. He does not feel that the platform is rotating, loses all bearings and has the impression that it is the decorations which are coming towards him. The engineers have developed a particular mechanism so that the movement is imperceptible. This is not the only attraction that deceives the senses! In a ship, the spectator has the impression of experiencing a storm on the open sea, the immersion is disturbing. The show can also be in the air, with the waltz of the hawks. Here, the techniques of falconry are revealed to us. And during aquatic shows, submerged machinery allows the sets… and the actors to come out of the water. A great technical feat!
This article appeared in Le Télépro on 11/7/2024
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