Luckydog Adventures: We Go to Paris--The Quai Branly Museum

There is, of course, no end to the museums in Paris. While we had come on this trip expressly for the Leonardo display at the Louvre (see that blog here) we'd planned to have an extra couple of days in Paris. And of course, finding something to do here is never a problem!

A museum I had never heard of, that Debra was keen on seeing, was the Quai Branly (full name: Musée du quai Branly – Jacques Chirac), just east (upstream??) of the Eiffel Tower. What a mind bender it turned out to be!

Spearheaded by former French president Jacques Chirac—while former American presidents endow libraries, it seems former French presidents start museums—it contains artifacts from the indigenous peoples of Asia, Oceana, Africa, and the Americas. And in both layout and content, it provided an ongoing jaw-dropping experience.

A note on the name: apparently it is named for the street it is on, the Quai Branly, honoring the scientist Edouard Branly. This was in an attempt to avoid any issues with “political correctness” that might have been raised through using words such as First, or Primitive, or Native Art, or Museum of Man.

Entry into the display area is via a long and winding ramp, a sort of birth canal, which has, flowing through it, a river of words. The words, thrown bright and white on the dark carpet from projectors overhead, are in hundreds of languages and designate geographical features around the world. As we wound up the ramp towards the displays it was almost like battling upstream through the rapids as the illuminated words flowed around us.

And then we arrived into a vast, dark space, filled with brightly-lit exhibits. Stunning. Statues, sculptures, carvings, fantastical shapes. We moved among the items in the darkness, stunned and amazed. I had no idea such things even existed! As we made our way from display to display we were unaware of where, exactly, we were in the museum, or how much more there was to see, or where the exit was. We were lost; wandering, not knowing what was next nor where it would end.

(When the museum opened in 2006 not all the reviews were positive. One negative review from the New York Times carried the perfect journalistic title: “Heart of Darkness in the City of Light”)

Our greeting, at the top of the ramp.

A bronze drum from China, made something like 2000 years ago; this one found in VietNam where it was a symbol of power; used in funeral ceremonies for important people. I soooo wanted to strike it...

This new museum contains the collections from the former Musée national des Arts d'Afrique et d'Océanie (National Museum of Arts of Africa and Oceania) and the Musée de l'Homme (Museum of Man), plus a bunch of new stuff as well. All in all there are something like one million items, of which only a small number (like, say, 35,000) are on display at once.

Carvings, large and small.

... and very intricate!

We found ourselves overwhelmed; it was all we could do to take it in. Details such as dates and places were irrelevant!

Note how the window in the background is painted to give a jungle-y feel to the room. Drum from the Nunez River, Guinea

Masks...

And then, least you lose track of which continent you are on, you turn the corner and...

Incredibly colorful Carnival costumes from a century ago; Peru.

We wandered for well over an hour until we felt thoroughly saturated and overawed. I think we missed some areas up on the mezzanine, but we were pretty full by then! On the way out I noticed a large darkened cylindrical room, perhaps four stories high, that appeared to contain musical instruments. At several levels I snapped some photos…

Enormous collection of musical instruments, not yet put out on display

We found ourselves being carried back down the ramp by the flowing words. We eventually took refuge in the café (every good museum has a café!) to catch our breaths before starting the long trek back to our rental, and were rewarded with a seemingly larger-than-life-size view of the Eiffel Tower. The kind you only see in movies. (Needless to say, the prices at the café took the view into account!)

As sunset was coming on, we pried ourselves from our cozy café seats and strolled along the Seine, enjoying an incredible sunset display on this amazing, cool but clear wintertime Parisian evening.

Pont Alexandre III at Sunset

Strolling the Streets of Paris

Of course, not every minute of our time was taken up with enclosed passages and amazing museums. We strolled the streets, admiring the endless sights. Without much more discussion, let’s just see what we found…