The French president Valéry Giscard d’Estaing was behind the project of the Arab World Institute construction at the heart of Paris. Thus, he wanted to lighten the relations between France and Arab countries bringing the two cultures closer. The building was inaugurated in 1987 under the chairmanship of François Mitterrand. The Institute shelters permanent collections… Read more »
Au 17ème siècle, le roi de France Louis XIV, soucieux d’offrir un toit aux soldats invalides, ordonne la construction d’un vaste bâtiment pour les accueillir. En réalité, il souhaite surtout vider les trottoirs de la capitale de ses anciens soldats devenus mendiants voire voleurs. L’Hôtel des Invalides est inauguré par le roi en 1674. Le… Read more »
From the start of explorations for the “New World” or South Pacific Islands, mariners brought many “souvenirs” from their trip. Europeans are passionate for this far away civilisations and the wealthier get their own cabinet of curiosities. That was how a first temporary ethnographic Museum gathering many private collections opened its doors in Paris in… Read more »