Cité nationale de l'histoire de l'immigration
The Cité nationale de l' histoire de l'immigration ( CNHI ) is a French museum of immigration, which was inaugurated after twenty years of preparation, on 10 October 2007.
History of the Project
For a long time attention was drawn to the fact that it was different than in the U.S. ( Ellis Iceland ), no institution of this type in France.
In 1990, a group of historians that included Gérard Noiriel and Pierre Axew, an association, the Association pour un musée de l'immigration. The government was handed a report, but the Left declared that the time was not yet ripe for the project.
1998 tried the journalist Philippe Bernard and Patrick Weil, Director of Research at the CNRS, to revive the project back by turned to the then Prime Minister Lionel Jospin. Rémy Schwartz, a member of the Conseil d' État and Driss El Yazami, Vice- President of the French League for Human Rights were tasked with a new report. The report came to the conclusion that a great need for such a museum exists and recommended to act, but that did not happen.
After his reelection in 2002, Jacques Chirac took the project and instructed the former Minister of Culture Jacques Toubon to investigate the matter more closely. Toubon presented in 2004 a new report, which took over many of the recommendations made in previous reports. The then Prime Minister Jean -Pierre Raffarin prompted the establishment of a preparatory committee, which led the Cité de l'immigration to the creation of the Groupement d' interet prive (GIP).
On 18 May 2007, eight academics, the bodies of the Cité de l'immigration belonged (Patrick Weil, Gérard Noiriel, Nancy Green, Patrick Simon, Vincent Viet, Marie -Christine Volovitch - Tavarès, Marie- Claude Blanc- Chaléard, Geneviève Dreyfus -Armand ), in protest against the prompting of Nicolas Sarkozy establishment of a Ministère de l'immigration, de l' intégration de l' identité national et du codéveloppement (literally: Ministry of Immigration, Integration, National Identity and co-development ) back since this foundation, in their view, " the trace of the Immigration stigmatizing discourse and in the tradition of a system based on mistrust and hostility towards foreigners in times of crisis nationalism " enrolls.
The seat of the Museum
Seat of the museum is designed by Albert Laprade Palais de la Porte Dorée, which was built for the Paris Colonial Exhibition of 1931. 16,000 m² of exhibition space for the CNHI are provided.
With the necessary modifications Patrick Bouchain was commissioned.
The permanent exhibition includes 1250 sqm. For educational institutions 450 m² are provided.
The museum further include an auditorium, a library, whose opening is scheduled for the end of 2008, and the famous tropical aquarium, which exists since the construction of the building. An online exhibition (including a film) was established. In spring 2008, various databases will be made available online.
The conversion has to respect the original design, since the exterior is a listed building. The chief architect of the historic buildings Jean -François Lagneau can get into good condition the roofs and the building's facade.
Conception of the museum
The concept of the museum Hélène Lafont - Couturier was transferred, formerly the Musée d' Aquitaine in Bordeaux initiated. The permanent exhibition, which is aimed at a wide audience, is to be reviewed every 18 months.
Priorities are:
- The immigrants themselves
- France as a country
- The proportion of the various immigrant groups in the construction of French identity
20 million euros will be invested in the project, for ongoing operations is expected to be 7 million euros per year.
Circumstances of the opening
At the inauguration of the new museum, which should mean a recognition of the contribution of immigrants to the history of France, was the President of the Republic, Nicolas Sarkozy, the Cité de l'architecture et du patrimoine had opened on 17 September, and the Minister of Immigration and National Identity Brice Hortefeux not present.
Temporary exhibitions
From 16 October 2007 to 11 January 2008, an exhibition of Armenian refugees ( " Reconstruire la nation. Réfugiés Les Arméniens au Proche -Orient et en France. 1917-1945 " ) can be seen.
Reception
The new museum was previously a rather mixed picture. Joseph Hanimann wrote in the Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung: " The historical summary tables, maps and statistics on migration flows, the photos, film clips and personal souvenirs of migrants that are shown, are vividly presented objectively and avoid all the sweet notes of fraternal culture mixing. The conflict points of living together are not idealistic, but civic smoothed: Homesickness is a private matter, the native language only good for your home, xenophobia of the neighbors a temporary social Krisenssymptom ".