Musée du Quai Branly – Jacques Chirac facts for kids

Quick facts for kids
Musée du Quai Branly – Jacques Chirac

Musée du quai Branly – Jacques Chirac
Established	2006
Location	37 Quai Branly, 75007 Paris, France
Type	Museum for the traditional art of Africa, Asia, Oceania, and the Americas in Paris, France
Visitors	1,150,000 (2016) Ranked 4th nationally

View of the African exhibit hall

A moving stream of words, called "The River", a site specific art work by Charles Sandison, flows down the winding ramp that leads from the entrance of the museum to the main galleries

The Musée du Quai Branly – Jacques Chirac is a famous museum in Paris, France. It was designed by the French architect Jean Nouvel. This museum shows amazing art and cultures from Africa, Asia, Oceania, and the Americas.

The museum has over a million items in its collection. These include art, photos, and historical documents. About 3,500 objects are on display at any time. You can see them in both permanent and special changing exhibits. Some items from the museum are also shown at the famous Louvre museum.

The Quai Branly Museum opened in 2006. It is one of Paris's newer big museums. In 2016, over a million people visited it. The museum is managed by two French government groups. It is both a museum and a place for research. You can find it near the Eiffel Tower on the left bank of the Seine River.

Some people have discussed whether certain items in the museum should be returned. These are items that were collected a long time ago. They came from places that were once under French rule. The idea is to return these cultural treasures to their original countries.

Discovering the Museum's History

Musée du quai Branly under construction, May 2000

A Moai ancestor's head from Easter Island (11th–15th century), now in the entrance hall

Schoolchildren visiting the Americas gallery

French presidents often create new museums. These museums become important landmarks. President Jacques Chirac wanted a new museum. He wanted it to celebrate the arts of the Americas, Africa, Asia, and Oceania.

For many years, smart people in France wanted a museum like this. They wanted a place to show art and cultures from non-European lands. These lands were often called "primitive" at the time. French explorers and scientists had gathered many objects from these places.

In 1990, an art collector named Jacques Kerchache wrote an important article. It was called "The masterpieces of the entire world are born free and equal." Many artists and thinkers signed it. Kerchache shared his idea with Jacques Chirac. Chirac later became president in 1995.

In 1996, President Chirac announced the new museum. It would combine collections from two other museums:

• The Musée national des Arts d'Afrique et d'Océanie (MAAO). This museum started in 1931. It focused on cultures from French overseas territories.
• The Musée de l'Homme ("Museum of Man"). This museum opened in 1937. It had many objects and focused on the social history of cultures.

The new museum also bought ten thousand new objects.

Building the Museum

The museum was built on a large piece of land. This land was once planned for a different project. In 1999, a contest was held to choose an architect. Jean Nouvel won the competition. He had designed other famous buildings.

Nouvel wanted the museum to blend in with its surroundings. He made the main building look lower than others. Gardens also help hide it from view. The building follows the curve of the Seine River.

Inside, Nouvel wanted visitors to feel open and included. There are no barriers between the different areas. This lets visitors "travel" from one continent to another. Labels for the art are small. This helps you focus on the beauty of the objects.

Construction started in 2001 and finished in 2005. The Musée du Quai Branly opened its doors on June 20, 2006.

What's in a Name?

When the museum first opened, it was called Musée du quai Branly. This name came from the street it's on. The street is named after a scientist, Édouard Branly. People had suggested other names. Some thought it should be called "Museum of First Arts."

The location-based name was chosen to avoid arguments about what to call the art. Some people thought it was a temporary name. They believed it would later be named after President Jacques Chirac. In June 2016, "Jacques Chirac" was added to the museum's name.

Exploring the Collections

The museum holds amazing collections from around the world. It has items from the old Musée national des Arts d'Afrique et d'Océanie. It also has objects from the ethnographic part of the Musée de l'Homme. Plus, many new items have been added.

The permanent collection has 300,000 artworks. It also has 700,000 photos and 320,000 documents. You can also see 10,000 musical instruments. About 3,500 objects are always on display. The museum changes about 500 objects each year.

The museum has both permanent exhibits and large temporary ones. These temporary exhibits change every six months. Past exhibits have shown masks from Oceania and costumes from Asia. They have also featured musical instruments from Africa.

In 2014, some temporary exhibits included the history of tattoos. There were also propaganda posters from Vietnam. Another exhibit, "Tiki Pop," showed how Oceania's culture influenced American pop culture. It even had a recreated 1960s "tiki bar"!

The museum has special collections. These include objects from French colonization in North America. There are also items showing the role of women travelers in the 18th and 19th centuries. You can also see paintings by Aboriginal Australians on eucalyptus tree bark. A small part of the collection is also shown at the Louvre Museum.

Returning Cultural Treasures

In 2018, there was a big discussion about returning some museum objects. These items were collected from former French colonies. This discussion started after a report for President Emmanuel Macron. The report suggested that items taken unfairly during colonial times should be returned. This would happen if the original country asked for them.

The Quai Branly Museum has 70,000 sub-Saharan African items. Most of these are in storage or on display. President Macron promised to send 26 pieces back to Benin. These items were taken during a war. This is a new approach for France. Before, France said its national collections could not be given away. This discussion has encouraged museums worldwide to work with African institutions. They want to understand and share cultural heritage better.

Selected Objects from the Collections

African Collection

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  A reliquary from the Sango people of Gabon (19th century)

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  Mask from the Pende people of Congo (20th century)

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  Mask from Eket people, Nigeria (20th century)

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  Guardian angel, Ethiopia (19th century)

Asian Collection

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  Back of a seat of honor, from the Abung people of the island of Sumatra in Indonesia (19th century)

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  Figurines by Sundaribai from Surguja district in Chhattisgarh, India (20th century)

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  Ritual mask from India (20th century)

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  Robe of a dignitary, China (19th century)

Americas Collection

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  Mayan container from Guatemala, AD 600–800

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  Aztec image of Chicomecoatl, goddess of corn

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  A heraldic mast, or totem pole, from the Nisga'a people in British Columbia, Canada (1890)

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  Decorated car from Mexico (20th century)

Oceania Collection

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  A mask from Vanuatu, from the south of the island of Malekula. (20th century)

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  Carved wooden figurines from Papua New Guinea (20th century)

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  Māori sculpture from New Zealand (1850)

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  Statue from Polynesia (1760–1860).

The Museum Buildings

Musée du Quai Branly

The main galleries and the mezzanine of the museum, connected by a winding ramp

The museum has four main buildings. They cover a huge area of 30,000 square meters. The whole complex, including the gardens, cost 233 million euros to build.

Main Gallery Building

The main building is 210 meters long. It has a large terrace on the roof, which is 3,000 square meters. This building looks like a giant bridge. It stands 10 meters above the garden. It is supported by two concrete towers and 26 steel columns. As the garden trees grow, they will hide the columns. This will make the building look like it's floating on the treetops.

Visitors enter the main building through a small door. Then, they walk up a gentle ramp to the main gallery. This gallery is 200 meters long. It is kept a bit dark inside. Only the displayed objects have direct lights on them. There are 30 different smaller galleries on the north side. You can see these from outside as colorful boxes.

Three mezzanines (half-floors) overlook the main gallery. The middle one is a multimedia center. The other two are for temporary exhibits. One changes every 18 months, and the other changes yearly. The side of the building facing the garden has an auditorium, classrooms, and a bookshop.

Other Buildings

• The separate Branly building holds administrative offices. It has 140 workspaces. Its most special feature is the "green wall" on its north side. This wall is covered with living plants.
• The Auvent building is connected to the Branly building by walkways. It has 60 workspaces. It also has a lecture hall and an archive with 700,000 photos and sound recordings.
• The building on the rue de l'Université has the museum's workshops and library. Its ceilings and outside walls are decorated with art. Eight Indigenous Australian artists created these artworks.

Théâtre Claude Lévi-Strauss

This theater is located under the main hall. You can also get to it from the garden. Jean Nouvel designed it. It is used for concerts, movies, and public talks. It can be set up in different ways. Special curtains, designed by Issey Miyake, help with the sound.

Beautiful Gardens

A winding path in the north garden of the Quai Branly museum. The glass wall blocks the noise of traffic on the quai.

The museum grounds have huge gardens. They cover 17,500 square meters. Landscape architect Gilles Clément designed them. These gardens are very different from traditional French gardens. They don't have fences or straight paths. Instead, they are a mix of small gardens with streams, hills, and pools. They use both native French plants and plants from other places that can grow in Paris. When the museum opened, 169 trees and 72,000 plants were planted.

On the north side, facing the street, a tall glass wall protects the garden. This wall blocks most of the street noise. The gardens on this side almost hide the museum building. The paths wind through the gardens, making it feel like an adventure.

Another special part of the garden is the "green wall." This living wall of plants covers 800 square meters of the museum's outside walls. It also covers 150 square meters of the inside walls. It has 15,000 plants from 150 different types. These plants come from places like Japan, China, the Americas, and Central Europe.

The Museum Library

The library of the Musée du quai Branly, facing the garden

The museum has a large library. It has three main parts:

• The book collection: It has two reading rooms. One is for research, and the other is for general reading.
• The picture collection: This part has many photographs and drawings.
• The archive collection: This stores historical documents.

You can find many scientific journals, databases, and other materials online. The library also has special collections from important ethnologists and art collectors.

See also

• List of museums in Paris
• List of largest art museums