Timeline

Key figures

Origin and history

The Quai Branly Museum Jacques Chirac, inaugurated in 2006 in Paris, was born of a desire to enhance the non-Western arts, long marginalized in museum collections. This project is part of the legacy of 20th-century artistic movements, such as Fauvism and Cubism, as well as works by anthropologists such as Claude Lévi-Strauss. It also responds to the commitment of writers and critics, from Apollinaire to Malraux, to recognize the place of extra-European civilizations in the history of art.

The museum gathers about 300,000 objects, mainly from the Museum of Man (250,000 pieces) and the National Museum of the Arts of Africa and Oceania (25 000 pieces). Between 2001 and 2006, these collections were the subject of an extensive conservation project: inventory, dust removal, digitisation and storage. An ambitious acquisition policy was launched in 1997 to enrich the funds, organized by geographical areas (Africa, America, Asia, Oceania) and thematic (musical instruments, textiles, photography).

The collection tray exhibits 3,500 objects from all four continents, while the Music Tower, a five-level glass structure, houses 8,700 instruments. The museum is also distinguished by its architecture signed by Jean Nouvel, marked by emerging boxes and a vegetal wall designed by Patrick Blanc. Neighbor of the Louvre and the Eiffel Tower, it is part of the Parisian cultural circuit, combining conservation, research and accessibility.

Located under the UNESCO patronage, the Quai Branly Museum has attracted more than 3.5 million visitors via its session pavilion at the Louvre (opened in 2000). Its ambition is twofold: to offer a diversity of views, from ethnology to art history, and to restore visibility to the patriarchs of peoples often excluded from dominant cultural narratives. The cross-sectional collections (music, goldsmith's, textiles) illustrate the presence of art in everyday life, beyond emblematic sculptures.

The site, built on one of the last land available in Paris, symbolizes cultural innovation. It combines museum, research centre and living space, while interacting with the countries of origin of the objects. Its architecture, between stone, glass and Aboriginal works, reflects this hybridization between tradition and modernity.

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