Héritage vs. Patrimoine

Question

I have seen the word "heritage" translated as "patrimoine" in a similar context to this exercise - e.g. patrimoine rural (rural heritage), patrimoine culturel (cultural heritage), etc. Is there any reason why "medieval heritage" cannot be translated as "patrimoine médiéval"?

Accepted Answer

Thank you for pointing this out, Helena and you are correct. We have added the word ‘patrimoine ‘ to the possible answers. Bonne Continuation !

Answer

Héritage and patrimoine, in their concrete meanings, refer to different things:l'héritage -- inheritance, that which one passes onle patrimoine -- estate, that which one possessesMost of the time, l'héritage comprises and consists of le patrimoine, i.e., the possessions of someone. In their more abstract meaning they are very similar and become synonyms. The difference is that héritage stresses that we are receiving it from our ancestors and patrimoine focuses more on the value of things.