Conserving, documenting and enriching a historic collection

300,000 works from Africa, Asia, Oceania and the Americas make up the collection which the museum aims to conserve, document and enrich. The collection housed by the musée du quai Branly - Jacques Chirac is extremely diverse, both in terms of its regions (Africa, Asia, Oceania, Americas) and its contents (photographs, textiles, sculptures, masks, etc.). The collection is the result of a history which extends from the Neolithic Age, via the kings of France, to the explorers and great ethnologists of the 20th century.
 

Creating bridges between cultures

From Oceania to Asia, from Africa to the Americas, the permanent collection area presents 3,500 works geographically without partitions. The juxtaposition of these works encourages original dialog between the cultures of four continents.

The museum holds ten or so temporary exhibits per year which are characterized by the diversity of approaches and fields of exploration. Designed by French or foreign figures from various backgrounds, the exhibits present works from the museum’s collections, as well as prestigious loans from international institutions and private collections.

Attracting varied audiences and inciting curiosity

The museum aims to support visitors according to their areas of interest, knowledge of the museum, availability and family and social situations, by offering guided tours, storytelling tours, courses, workshops, audio guides and more.

In order to establish a lasting connection with its visitors, the museum offers some of its cultural activities and services on various digital media: mobile apps, audio guides, 3D presentation of collections, news via social networks and more.

The museum is also committed to a policy of accessibility in order to respond to the needs of disabled visitors. In addition to the technical and material aspects, human interaction lies at the heart of this accessibility policy.

Highlighting the collections on a museographic and scientific level

A public institution under the dual supervision of the Ministry of Culture and Communication and the Ministry of Higher Education and Research, the musée du quai Branly - Jacques Chirac is both a museum and a center of teaching and research: a forum open to the world presenting artistic, cultural and scientific events, with varied levels of interpretation and approach.

From international conferences to more intimate encounters in the Jacques Kerchache Reading Room, from lectures at the Université Populaire du quai Branly (Branly Open University) to debates with contemporary artists, the nature and history of the museum collections continue to address issues at various levels.

Due to the very nature of its collections, the musée du quai Branly - Jacques Chirac has an international vocation and pursues an active policy of cooperation with the countries from which its collections originate. The museum has built up a culture of exchange based on scientific, cultural and technical cooperation.

The museum also has a media library specializing in the areas of ethnology and the history of non-European art.