From September 6, 2025, the Champs-Élysées will transform into an enchanted forest. With The Immersive City of FablesParis is hosting an extraordinary exhibition that brings Jean de La Fontaine and his timeless characters back to life through spectacular scenography. Combining literary heritage with immersive technologies, the journey promises to be as poetic as it is daring.
Jean de La Fontaine, timeless storyteller
"I use animals to teach people." Behind this motto, La Fontaine hid a universal ambition: to describe the world, its vanities, its injustices, and its grandeur, through the lens of a fox, a crow, or a frog. Nearly four centuries later, his writing retains an ironic freshness and precision that strike children and adults alike. His 243 fables are mirrors held up to all eras, from Versailles to the connected world.
It is precisely this timeless force that explores The Immersive City of Fables, new creation signed Immersive Cities, the company founded by Jean Vergès and Anthony Samama. After taking the public on a journey into the world of the Vikings in Rouen, the duo is now tackling a monument of French literature. Their challenge: to give flesh and voice to the fables through a unique immersive experience, accessible to all.
A multifaceted writer, beyond Fables
Born in 1621 in Château-Thierry, Jean de La Fontaine established himself as one of the greatest poets of the Grand Siècle. Although he frequented the court of Louis XIV and the Parisian literary salons, he retained a free, willingly rebellious spirit, which placed him on the fringes of the courtiers. His fables, published between 1668 and 1694, transform oral heritage and ancient stories into gems of concision and irony. Behind their talking animals lies a profound reflection on human nature, power, cunning, and the fragility of men.
In his time, La Fontaine was as celebrated as he was feared. His contemporaries admired the elegance of his style and his art of morality, but the royal power was wary of his independence of mind: under the guise of animals, he sometimes dared to scratch the powerful. His friendship with Nicolas Fouquet, disgraced superintendent of Louis XIV, earned him a reputation as a rebellious poet. Yet, his fables appealed to all social circles, from aristocratic salons to popular circles, as they resonated with everyday life. In 1684, he was elected to the Académie Française, confirming his literary genius despite a career marked by irony, freedom, and frivolity.
If Jean de La Fontaine remains universally known for his fables, his work is not limited to these short moral stories. Poet and storyteller, he also publishes Contes and new arrivals in Japan, of Italian inspiration and sometimes licentious, which earned him as much social success as severe criticism for their audacity. His taste for narration led him to try his hand atanimal epic with The Quinquina Poem, or at the translation and adaptation Ancients, such as Aesop or Phaedrus, who nourished his moral reflection. La Fontaine also composed elegiac poems, epistles and plays, but it was in the art of the short story that he excelled. His writings paint a contrasting portrait: that of an author capable of seducing aristocratic salons with his refinement, while speaking to all generations thanks to a clear, mischievous and universal language.
A sensory dive into the heart of Fables
On more than 1 000 m², visitors become La Fontaine's traveling companions. From the entrance, the scene is set: lush vegetation, moving light effects, spatialized sound that summons rustlings, voices and music. Each room becomes a living chapter.
The route, approximately 1h30 of exploration, resurrects the most famous fables: The Fox and the Crow, The Wolf and the Lamb, The Frog who wants to be as big as the OxThe costumes and makeup are magical, the dialogues are subtly modernized, and the characters are embodied by familiar voices and faces.
An exceptional cast
Jean de La Fontaine takes on the features of Laurent Stocker (French Comedy). Alexandre astier embodies a majestic Lion, Arielle Dombasle a hypnotic Wolf, Charles Berling a cunning fox, while Mary Infiltrates slips into the skin of an ambitious Frog. Around them, an eclectic troupe brings the entire bestiary to life, with the singer Axelle Saint-Cirel in Raven.
La musical direction, entrusted to the collective Good Listener, sets the pace for the visit: their electronic compositions blend sound archives, iconic voices, and modern textures. The fables then become as much about listening to as they are about contemplating.
When the 17th century dialogues with the present
If the decor summons the Great Century, its gilding and its splendor, the journey is not limited to a reconstruction. Through the video mapping, street art. or even contemporary pop references, the exhibition offers constant back-and-forths between yesterday and today. La Fontaine's writing, sometimes mocking, sometimes serious, is surprisingly contemporary: our vanities of yesterday are very similar to those of today.
Le 25-minute finale, a 360° projection show, aims to be the apotheosis of the journey. The fables unfold in all their visual forms, prints, paintings, graffiti, while the words of La Fontaine resonate in a reinvented recitation.
A project at the crossroads of arts and knowledge
The exhibition is based on a demanding scientific committee, led by Tiphaine Rolland, a specialist in La Fontaine at the Sorbonne, and supported by researchers such as Patrick Dandrey et Didier FoucaultThis academic rigor guarantees fidelity to the text, while opening the way to a lively rereading.
At the same time, the YouTuber Nota Bene, followed by more than 4 million subscribers, guides visitors through educational videos broadcast on interactive terminals. Popularizing history becomes a natural relay for the work, reinforcing its accessibility among younger people.
The alliance of playfulness and poetry
What is striking in The Immersive City of Fables, it is the way in which she conjugates show, education and entertainment.exposure claims an inclusive approach: everyone, whether passionate about literature, a fan of visual arts or simply curious, finds a gateway into the world of La Fontaine.
This ambition goes beyond the Parisian framework. After its opening in September 2025, the exhibition will begin a tour in France and Europe, continuing the mission of Immersive Cities: reconnecting audiences with their heritage, by inventing new common stories.
La Fontaine in 2025: a voice still alive
Giving flesh to La Fontaine's words is not just an aesthetic gesture. It is also a reminder of the power of language, its musicality, its biting irony. In a world saturated with images and information, the poetry of fables offers itself as a salutary counterpoint: brief, incisive, universal.
At a time when culture is constantly seeking to attract new audiences, The Immersive City of Fables illustrates a promising path: that of a literary heritage transformed into a sensory experience. A way of reminding us that La Fontaine does not only belong to school textbooks, but to each of us.
Report: Patrick Koune
Practical information
The Immersive City of Fables
5 rue de Berri, 75008 Paris
Opening on September 6, 2025
Open every day from 10:30 a.m. to 19:30 p.m. – Closed Monday and Tuesday morning
Adult: €19,90 – Reduced: €16,90 Child: €13,90 – Free for children under 6
