April 07, 2006
The jungle is in Paris
Yet another evidence of the exception culturelle française.
The French president Jacques Chirac is about to unveil what he hopes will be his greatest legacy to the nation - a €260m (£180m) riverside monument to himself as the "great defender" of African and Asian indigenous culture.(...)
But when the museum's directors opened the site for previews this week before its June launch, historians were already questioning what they feared could be a patronising attempt to display African works in a "mock jungle" setting that rehashed "all France's old colonial cliches"
(...)
[Chirac] promised a Native American delegation to the Elysée Palace in 2004: "In these times of violence, arrogance, intolerance and fanaticism" his new museum would show "France's faith in the virtues of cultural diversity and dialogue".
Do not miss the entire article.
Posted by Carine at April 7, 2006 11:28 PMUgh! It's enough to make you want to vomit.
Posted by: nouille at April 9, 2006 03:40 AMThat's one butt-ugly building.
Posted by: Jay at April 9, 2006 08:32 AMyeah, as if America was known to have prettier buildings than France!
You chose indeed one that is ugly but it is an exception to what you can see usually in France
Vilay,
You mean like this? Or this maybe?
The difference is that those French buildings are not private, they are paid for with the taxpayers' money. And they're like a scar to Paris.
Posted by: Carine at April 9, 2006 07:27 PMIt is Chirac who makes me sick, not the building, although it is ugly.
The U.S. has plenty of ugly buildings, but we know they are ugly. People move here from other countries and impose their aesthetic on us.
Just today I saw a "russian style" building being built where only Spanish styles exist,it looks sorely out of place!
Posted by: nouille at April 9, 2006 09:07 PM
