Musée de l'Homme

The French Musée de l'Homme ("Museum of Man") is a museum of prehistory and anthropology (science of man) in Paris. It is located in the Palais de Chaillot (Métro: Trocadéro ).

History and meaning

The museum emerged from the Musée d'Ethnographie du Trocadéro , founded by Ernest Hamy in 1882 , and was re-established in 1937 by Paul Rivet on the occasion of the Paris World Exhibition . It built up large prehistoric and ethnological collections (Africa, Arctic regions, Asia, America - in particular on the art of the Maya and Aztecs and on finds about human development). The museum had one of the most important libraries (180,000 volumes) on the subjects of anthropology, ethnology and prehistory.

The ethnological collections became the property of the Musée du quai Branly in 2006 . What remained was holdings on prehistory and scientific anthropology. The Musée de l'Homme is now part of the National Museum of Natural History ( Muséum national d'histoire naturelle ).

Renovation 2009–2015

In July 2008 the French government decided to spend 50 million euros on renovating the museum. The money is to be used for an architectural redesign and a modernized museum concept.

The renovation should begin in early 2009; on October 17, 2015, the museum reopened to visitors. 2500 m² of exhibition space is available for the permanent exhibition consisting of around 30,000 exhibits, another 1000 m² can be used for temporary exhibitions. The renovation was designed by the architects Olivier Brochet, Emmanuel Lajus and Christine Pueyo from Bordeaux and Emmanuel Nebout from Montpellier . The group won the 2006 competition. In addition to more space, the new museum also offers more brightness. Light from the dome floods the room because there are no false ceilings.

The new museum houses two large departments: Préhistoire (prehistory) under the direction of François Semah and Hommes, nature, sociétés (man, nature, societies) under the direction of Serge Bahuchet. The project manager for the redesign is Jean-Pierre Mohen. A total of 160 scientists will conduct research in both departments. The museum is dedicated to both scientific research and public work. The aim is “to present the audience the great saga of man from his origins to the present day, and to deal with everything that is specific to man: his evolution, his biology, his different societies, his interactions with his environment and his current one Situation ”, says Jean-Pierre Mohen.

literature

Christiane Galus: 50 millions d'euros pour le Musée de l'Homme, qui rouvrira en 2012. In: Le Monde . July 21, 2008, p. 18.

Web links

Commons : Musée de l'Homme - collection of images, videos and audio files

Official website (French).
Library: Bibliothèque (French).
Nina Gorgus: The Musée de l'Homme in Paris is redefining itself. In: Museumsblog.de - Findings about exhibitions. March 29, 2007, accessed July 11, 2014.

Individual evidence

↑ Christiane Galus: 50 millions d'euros pour le Musée de l'Homme, qui rouvrira en 2012. In: Le Monde . July 21, 2008, p. 18: “Le But est de présenter au public la grande saga humaine depuis ses origines jusqu'à nos jours, en traitant tous les aspects propres à l'homme: son évolution, sa biologie, ses differentes sociétés , ses interferences avec son environnement et sa situation current “.

48.862291666667 2.2881555555556Coordinates: 48 ° 51 '44.3 " N , 2 ° 17' 17.4" E

[1] Christiane Galus: 50 millions d'euros pour le Musée de l'Homme, qui rouvrira en 2012. In: Le Monde . July 21, 2008, p. 18: “Le But est de présenter au public la grande saga humaine depuis ses origines jusqu'à nos jours, en traitant tous les aspects propres à l'homme: son évolution, sa biologie, ses differentes sociétés , ses interferences avec son environnement et sa situation current “.