The new national museum of the history of immigration

Following major works in the Palais de la Porte Dorée, the Museum’s reopens its permanent exhibition with a completely renewed, more didactic and evolving space integrating recent research on immigration in France.
Camille Schmoll, geographer, member of the UMR Géographie Cités and director of studies at the EHESS, is one of the scientific curators of the project. The Géographie-Cités laboratory has taken charge of the cartographic part of the permanent exhibition, under the coordination of Françoise Bahoken.

Larger and more accessible, especially to young people, the new Museum unfolds a chronological, thematic and sensitive narrative in 11 key dates – from 1685 to the present day – which show that the history of immigration is an indivisible component of French history, based on scientific data, events and life stories.

Combining archival documents, photographs, paintings, sculptures, posters, life stories, contemporary artistic creations and digital mediation tools for all ages, the new Museum will provide each visitor with the essential elements to know and understand an essential part of French identity.

11 Key dates to understand the history of immigration in France

The new Museum beautifully illustrates the progress of research into the history of immigration in France, tying it in more than ever with the major issues of contemporary society. It aims to make the history of immigration a central element of the nation’s history, helping to acknowledge this history and fuel further reflection.

The circuit breaks with the theme-based logic of the displays as previously arranged, in favour of a timeline, following on from the preview report produced by the scientific committee chaired by historian Patrick Boucheron. The new chronological presentation highlights 11 key dates, exploring two or three themes for each, and taking a long-term perspective of history. These key dates were selected for their historical importance to illustrate the construction of statutes and citizenship, migration flows and the social and cultural history of migration, without overlooking struggles and controversy. The new presentation starts in 1685, the year the Edict of Nantes was revoked and “Black Code” was promulgated in France.

Immersion in a well-documented, sensitively written account

The circuit also features recent acquisitions and works,by contemporary artists from the Museum collection, including Kader Attia, Lahouari Mohammed Bakir, Pascale Consigny, Claire Fontaine, Samuel Fosso, Mathieu Pernot, Zineb Sedira and Barthelemy Toguo to name but a few as well as guest artists such as Gaëlle Choisne and Valérie Mréjen.

Making the history of immigration accessible to all

The National Museum of the History of Immigration will be more accessible to young people, with mediation devices for people of all ages. There are captions specially written for children, a booklet to explain the museum to young visitors and a mobile application to provide young people with elements that help them gain insights into the museum.
Educational documents and tours suitable for school groups are also available.
Lastly, the exhibits of the new circuit as well as a set of focus themes, videos and accounts will be available online at the Museum to round off the tour.

Head curator:
Sébastien Gökalp, Director, Musée National de l’Histoire de l’Immigration.
Executive curator:
Émilie Gandon, Heritage Curator, Musée National de l’Histoire de l’Immigration.
Scientific curators:
Marianne Amar, Director of the Research, Department at the Musée National de l’Histoire de l’Immigration.
Emmanuel Blanchard, Historian and political scientist, lecturer at the University of Versailles Saint-Quentin and lecturer/researcher at IEP, Saint-Germain-in-Laye.
Delphine Diaz, Historian, lecturer in Contemporary History at the University of Reims ChampagneArdenne, junior member of the Institut Universitaire de France.
Camille Schmoll, Geographer, Director of Studies at EHESS/ Géographie-cités laboratory.