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| Friday, 24 December 2004 |
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Museum in tribute: Immigration's contribution to the construction of France by Claudine Canetti
French Prime Minister Jean Pierre Raffarin formally announced the museum project on 8 July 2004, finally putting an end to the long hesitation over the immigration museum, which has been in the pipeline for some 15 years. The museum, conceived as a place of history and remembrance with a cultural and educational slant, is slated to officially open in 2007, although it has been assigned a budget as of early 2005 to begin its activities. A 'symbolic and prestigious" site has been chosen to house the museum: the Palais de la Porte Doree, an Art Deco building originally baptised the Museum of the Colonies following the colonial exhibition in 1931. In 1935, it changed name to the Museum of Overseas France before adopting an artistic face from 1960 to 2003 as the Museum of African and Oceanic Arts, the brainchild of writer and Minister of Culture, Andre Malraux. The project's designers were determined that the building's historically-charged past rooted in colonial ideology would not prevent it from being chosen, since "Colonisation and decolonisation are part of France's history, with its high points and low points, achievements and atrocities, joys and wars," stressed the Prime Minister. Aptly, colonisation and immigration are the choice subjects of the Museum's inaugural exhibition in 2007. In the meantime, a vast programme of exhibitions, symposia, conferences and events is already timetabled to take place throughout the Palais' renovation work, the design of which will be selected by an architectural contest organised by the Ministry of Culture and Communication. The launch of this symbolic project takes up on the work of the 2003 planning commission for the Immigration Resource and Remembrance Centre led by Jacques Toubon, former Minister of Culture and then of Justice, whose main recommendations were taken on board by the Prime Minister. "In the 19th and 20th century, (France) was the only major country for immigration in Europe, contrary to other countries that sent their fellow citizens forth throughout the world in their millions. It is from this melting pot that French civilisation was moulded, with men and women who chose France to live their lives, united by values of liberty, equality and fraternity," said Raffarin. The project is "centred on a single idea: inclusive national integration as opposed to exclusive sectarianism; unity as opposed to division." The museum is intended as a tribute to the contribution of immigration in constructing the French nation. It also aims to change people's perceptions and attitudes to migratory phenomena and highlight the vitality of the myriad identities and personal histories that have shaped France. "We do not have the right to see immigration merely as a way of strengthening our workforce or, worse still, as a source of social problems", insists Raffarin. "We can no longer shut our eyes to this vital aspect of the history of our people." This new genre of museum is to be "a centre of history and a living testament" with a permanent gallery combining a chronological trail and themed exhibition areas rounded out with temporary exhibits. The project presented by Raffarin states that the museum's chronological feature will begin with the French Revolution, an event that "invented citizenship and nationality" by answering the question, "What does it mean to be French?" and defining a valid principle of nationality for the entire nation. In his presentation, the Prime Minister paid homage to all the European, African and North African immigrants who contributed in sometimes-harsh conditions to France's industrial rise in the 19th century and to its reconstruction following the Second World War. Actualite En France |
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Produced by Lake House |
A National Immigration History Museum is soon to be opened in Paris in
"tribute to immigration's contribution to the construction of
France" and to bring to the fore the importance of immigrant
populations to the French Republic.
