Museums in Paris: Quai Branly – Jacques Chirac

Situated only a few steps from the Eiffel Tower and along the River Seine, **the Quai Branly – Jacques Chirac **is one of the most impressive museums in Paris. Inaugurated in 2006 and dedicated entirely to non-European civilizations, this museum is worldwide recognizable for its *green wall *designed by a French botanist, Patrick Blanc. The Quai Branly – Jacques Chirac Museum has an incredibly rich collection of the indigenous art, works, photographs and objects, such as musical instruments and clothing from Africa, Asia, Oceania and the Americas. This incredible place also has a theater, cinema, bookstore and restaurant with a panoramic view of Paris. 

History

Jacques Chirac, an elected President of France in 1995, decided to open a museum consecrated to the indigenous art and culture. Jean Nouvel, a famous French architect, was entrusted with designing the building of this new museum. Nouvel decided to double the surface of the initially planned green space and imagined the shape of the museum as a line following the curve of the River Seine. **The Quai Branly Museum **was inaugurated in 2006, by Jacques Chirac and in the presence of many important and famous people such as Claude Lévi-Strauss, a French anthropologist and ethnologist and Kofi Annan, the seventh Secretary-General of the United Nations. In June 2016, ten years after it was opened, this museum was officially renamed as the Musée du Quai Branly – Jacques Chirac.

Collection

**The Quai Branly - Jacques Chirac Museum **has an incredibly rich collection that consists of some 300 000 works from Africa, Asia, Oceania and the Americas including the clothing, sculptures, paintings and musical instruments. This **museum **has around 700 000 photos, engravings, drawings and postcards and an impressive library that counts 250 000 books. But this is not all. In **the Quai Branly - Jacques Chirac Museum, **you can also find the Claude Lévi-Strauss Theater. Designed by Jean Nouvel, this theater can be configured differently thanks to the acoustic curtains made by Isset Miyake, a Japanese fashion designer. But the thing that makes this museum worldwide recognisable **is probably its garden created by Gilles Clément, a French landscape architect, as well as its green wall designed by a French botanist, Patrick Blanc.

Practical Information

The Quai Branly - Jacques Chirac,  one of the most impressive museums in Paris, is open every day, except on Mondays, from 11 am to 7 pm. Every Thursday, Friday and Saturday, the museum closing time is at 9 pm. The garden is open from 9:15 am to 7:30 pm from Tuesday to Sunday and from 9:15 am to 9:15 pm from Thursday to Saturday. On the rooftop of the Quai Branly - Jacques Chirac Museum is situated a beautiful panoramic restaurant – Les Ombres. In this restaurant that offers fine dining, you can enjoy an incredible view of Paris.