I’m a big fan of this museum for the following reasons:
- the architecture: it’s modern, it’s set in a garden landscape which sprouts giant glow-sticks at night, it’s swirly, it has organic, earthy forms which only very occasionally make me feel like I’m in the fake caves of the Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom ride at Disneyland.
- the history: in a bid for cultural immortality, Jacques Chirac ordered the creation of this museum by, basically, emptying out several other older museums. Take that, Musee de l’Homme!
- the collections: so… to break the possibly bad news: it’s an ethnological museum. We’re talking masks, ceremonial robes, shadow puppets, etc. from Oceania, Africa, Asia, South America, Australia, and wherever else French colonies and colonial collecting practices roamed in the 18th and 19th centuries. But wait, keep reading! Even if you’re not interested in non-Western cultures, I think you’ll be seduced by:
- the presentation: the museum devotes equal efforts to making the objects look good and making them revelatory of their cultures. This kind of arrangement is sadly rare, and the reason it’s so valuable is that it makes the museum worth multiple visits. You can go a couple of times just to look at the beautiful things, floating in dramatic darkness in minimalist glass cases which bring the works into pleasing juxtapositions as your viewpoint changes. But then you can return to read the texts and watch the hours of video and learn about the objects’ uses in their home culture.
