The Official Journal has just published the decree authorizing the opening of external and internal competitions for access to the corps of heritage curators for the year 2026. Registrations will be possible from February 23 (12 p.m.) to March 27, 2026. The written test (eligibility) will take place in the Paris region from June 30 to July 3, 2026. The oral exams (admission) are from September 28 2026, in Paris. Additional centers may also be opened for candidates residing in the DROM-COM, Overseas France.
Upon registration, each candidate chooses a specialty. There are five: archaeology, archives, inventory, historical monuments and museums. For the tests, the precise address has not yet been revealed. In 2024, the writings took place at the examination center of Noisy-le-Grand (93) with overseas centers. The orals were held in the premises of the National Heritage Institute (75).
The heritage curator competition gives access to a category A + body of the State, a body of the City of Paris and a job framework in the territorial civil service. In practice, State and Paris posts concern major national museums, historical monuments and national inventories. Territorial curators work in museums or regional and municipal services.
Access to the competition depends on the candidate’s background. The external route is open to holders of a license (or equivalent). The internal route is reserved for public officials (State, communities, among others), with at least four years of service. The tests are common for both competitions (State/Paris on one side, communities on the other) and the same jury judges all the candidates.
The competition opens access to the body of heritage curators (state civil service). This corps is structured into three grades, with steps within each grade. The first rank is that of general curator. It includes five levels and one special level. The second grade is that of chief curator which includes seven levels. Finally, the third grade, that of curator, includes eight levels and two internship levels. The employment framework for territorial heritage curators includes the chief curator (seven levels) and the curator (eight levels). In both functions the job remains the same: conserve, study, enrich, transmit.
Position quotas remain relatively stable each year. 45 positions were offered in total in 2022. The State and the City of Paris had opened more positions than the local authorities. The number of positions in the external competition (31 in 2022) exceeded that of the internal competition (14 in 2022). In 2024, 48 positions were open to the competitions for 756 registered and 472 present for the writings.
