Immigrant or expat? A question long debated in our anglophone community.
As with most north western nations the history of immigration is a major part of France’s history where a quarter of the population is either first- or second-generation French and ten percent are immigrants.
And as with everything in France there is a dedicated museum. The new layout (as of June 2023) of the Musée National de l’histoire de l’immigration (Museum of Immigration in France) at the Palais de la Porte Dorée takes on the challenge of evolving views on immigration. The choice of building itself is an interesting one.
Quite possibly the largest bas-relief in the world, the stone tapestry covers the entire facade of the Palais de la Porte Dorée which houses the very interesting Musée de l’Immigration as well as a tropical aquarium and exhibition space. The bas-relief is a global bestiary which represents with quasi-scientific precision more than 215 animals of all species: insects, fish, molluscs, birds, reptiles, wild and domestic mammals including elephants… Similarly, costumes, hairstyles, technical gestures of the craftsmen and cultivators are depicted with ethnographic precision. photo: https://www.flickr.com/photos/groume/4664760642
The Palais de la Porte Dorée was originally called the Palais des colonies which was constructed between 1929 and 1931, for the Colonial Exposition. The Exposition attempted to promote an image of imperial France at the very height of its power. The Palais was to be a “museum of the colonies”, representing the territories, the history of the colonial conquest and its effect on the arts.
Today the Museum of Immigration in France tussles with it’s now frowned upon colonial origins (and it’s huge art deco very colonial bas relief on the façade) and attempts inside to celebrate France’s resulting diversity. Viewed unanimously as one of Paris’s most remarkable buildings of the 1930s, today it serves as a precious testimony to the museographic design of an era when this type of establishment played a central role in the dissemination and sharing of knowledge. After three years of works the museum re-opened with a new permanent exhibit.
The new scenography and museum path is more didactic and integrates recent research on immigration in France. The museum path travels chronologically through 11 key periods from l’Ancien Régime of 1685 up to today. There are archival documents, photographs, visual arts, posters, personal stories and numeric displays for all ages. The idea is to present how immigration is indivisible from French history. From history shaping events, the construction and evolution of the notion of citizenship, migratory movement, hospitality and xenophobia to social, economic and cultural history and controversy the exhibition covers it all. You may even find echos of your own immigrant or expat experience.
