The Quai Branly museum is set on quai
Branly in the 7th district of Paris, where was located the Foreign Exchange
Market Department. Ambitious project led by Jacques Chirac (passionated by « primitive
art ») and realised by Jean Nouvel, it has been unveiled the 20th of June
2006.
History
Jacques Kerchache, art seller and african art expert, tried from the
begining of the 1990’s to bring the « primitive arts » into the
Louvre museum. In 1990 he signed in the newpaper Libération an article on this
topic ; the same year he met Jacques Chirac, then mayor of Paris.
The latter is elected president of the Republic in 1995. As soon as he
arrived at the head of the State, he askes for the opening of a primitive art department
at the Louvre museum. One year later he announced the project of creation of a
new museum, which quickly meet an opposition, especially with a strike of the personnal of the Man
museum in 1999, to stand in the way of the disassembly of the museum’s
collections and criticize the primacy of the aesthetic choice instead of the
scientific factors.
An architecture competition is sent out in 1999, designating Jean Nouvel as
the architect.
This museum is unveiled the 20th of June 2006 by Jacques
Chirac, in the presence of Kofi Annan, Rigoberta Menchú, Paul Okalik, Dominique
de Villepin, Lionel Jospin and Jean-Pierre Raffarin. The Quai Branly museum has
the status of public administratove institution. It’s placed under the guardianship
of the Department of Culture and
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