An exceptional city

First-class cultural institutions

A magnificent region with a whole lot to offer, Bordeaux and its top-ranking cultural institutions are aiming, with BAD+, to open up new perspectives on art through a unique event in HANGAR 14 and other venues across the city. The perfect combination of urban and rural areas will thus enable the emergence and mixing of a wide variety of thinking and perspectives with artists and galleries, intellectuals and art lovers of all sorts, students and museum directors.

Bringing the art world together

This will form the perfect venue to bring the art world together, to pause, examine, consider and determine where we are at, how the historical wealth of the region can inspire art and vice-versa. The wisdom of nature is the backbone of Bordeaux, nurturing its past and its future with a blend of cultural know-how and good taste. The contemporary art and design of the last two centuries can thus become substantial elements of artistic considerations and techniques in this splendid architectural capital.

Lastly, at every moment of life, art must be a joyous passion, which, like good wine, can only get better with time.

Picture of the water mirror reflecting the buildings along the quays of the Garonne

Like the grape on the vine, artists thrive in specific fields, and galleries, like experienced wine-growers, showcase their creativity with a distinctive energy that renders them visible to others.

A perfect setting to bring the art world together once a year

Bordeaux, the renowned world capital of wine, with its elegant 18th-century architectural heritage and varied artistic landscape that still has so much to reveal, a city of light and creator of commercial roads throughout the world for wine and other goods, currently boasts a unique setting which forms the perfect backdrop to bring together the national and international art scene on a yearly basis.

• Just 2 hours and 4 minutes from Paris by train, an airport offering more than 80 destinations to 6 million passengers
• Outstanding 18th-century architecture
• Vibrant economic, tourism and scientific sectors
• A vast choice of accommodation in all categories

An unforgettable environment and exceptional vineyards: Saint-Emilion, Pomerol, Médoc, Graves, Sauternes, Margaux, Saint-Julien, Saint-Estèphe and Pessac-Léognan, etc.

100% leisure and culture

Per-capita investment in culture in Bordeaux is exceeded only by Paris and far outweighs other major cities:

• 11 museums including 6 municipal ones, 
• The world renowned Bordeaux National Opera
• More than 15 festivals attracting the international scene to Bordeaux and its outskirts
• Every year, some fifty cultural projects obtain creative funding
• A ratio of 1 restaurant for 285 inhabitants, including three establishments run by Michelin-starred chefs (Philippe Etchebest, Gordon Ramsay and Pierre Gagnaire)

Picture of the quays of Bordeaux taken just before dark

A city of innovation, technology and science

Bordeaux is home to more than 24,000 businesses, providing 293,000 jobs throughout the metropolitan area.

21% of French people believe Bordeaux is the ideal city for investment opportunities, ahead of Nantes and Lyon.

Bordeaux University (80,000 students and 11,600 researchers,) one of the first universities to receive the ‘Campus Excellence’ award in France, joined the Ministry of Education-led Excellence Initiative (IdEX) programme in 2010.

Daytime picture of a medieval building in Bordeaux