Musee du Quai Branly

By on 20/08/2009 in Attractions
Front View of Musee du Quai Branly

Front View of Musee du Quai Branly

The Musee du quai Branly, known in English as the Quai Branly Museum, nicknamed MQB, is a museum in Paris, France that features indigenous art, cultures and civilizations from Africa, Asia, Oceania, and the Americas. The museum is located at 37, quai Branly – portail Debilly, 75007 Paris, France, situated close to the Eiffel Tower. The nearest metro and RER stations are Alma – Marceau and Pont de l’Alma. It is named after its location which is turn is named after the physicist Edouard Branly.

History

A commission was established to study the feasibility of building the museum in 1995. When the study was concluded, land was reserved near the Eiffel Tower for the future museum. French President Jacques Chirac was a very influential proponent of the project. Quai Branly opened on June 23, 2006. For the whole story of the MQB (and the introduction of “primitive art” to the Louvre Museum), see Paris Primitive: Jacques Chirac’s Museum on the Quai Branly by Sally Price (2007).

Building

The building was designed by architect Jean Nouvel. The “living wall” (200m long by 12m tall) on part of the exterior of the museum was designed and planted by Gilles Clement and Patrick Blanc. The “living wall” at installation was quite healthy and vibrant, however, over time, the inadequate support system for the plants roots, irrigation and drainage have become visually evident. The museum complex contains several buildings, as well as a mediatheque and a garden. The museum’s frontage facing onto quai Branly features very tall glass paneling which allows its interior gardens to be remarkably quiet only meters from the busy street in front of them.

Exhibits

The museum contains the collections of the now-closed Musee national des Arts d’Afrique et d’Oceanie and the ethnographic department of the Musee de l’Homme. The museum contains 267,000 objects in its permanent collection, of which 3,500 items from the collection are on display. A part of it is now exhibit at the Pavillon des Sessions of the musee du Louvre, where the master pieces are such as “l’homme de fer”.

The museum has also an important library with 3 main departments :

  • book collection with 2 reading rooms : a research reading room at the top floor and a popular reading room at the ground floor
  • picture collection with photographs and drawings
  • archive collection

The library has collections from important ethnologists such as Georges Condominas, Françoise Girard, Nesterenko, or art trader such as Jacques Kerchache. Official website is www.quaibranly.fr (Text Source: Wikipedia, the Free Encyclopedia)

Quai Branly Museum is located in the 7th arrondissement of Paris. So, you may want to see;

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