Cité nationale de l'histoire de l'immigration
Encyclopedia
Immigration to France
As of 2010, Eurostat estimated that 7.2 million foreign-born immigrants lived in France corresponding to 11.1% of the total population. Of these, 5.1 million were born outside the European Union and 2.1 million were born in another EU member state...
history located in the XIIe arrondissement
XIIe arrondissement
The 12th arrondissement of Paris is one of the 20 arrondissements of the capital city of France....
at 293, avenue Daumesnil, Paris, France. The nearest métro station is Porte Dorée
Porte Dorée (Paris Métro)
Porte Dorée is a station on line 8 of the Paris Métro.The station opened on 5 May 1931 with the extension of the line from Richelieu - Drouot to Porte de Charenton for the Paris Colonial Exposition, held in the nearby Bois de Vincennes...
. It is open daily except Monday; an admission fee is charged.
The museum was conceived in 1989 by Algerian immigrant Zaïr Kedadouche
Zaïr Kedadouche
Zaïr Kedadouche is a retired French soccer player. He is also a published author with his 1996 book Zair le gaulois, and is the founder of the Cité nationale de l'histoire de l'immigration museum....
, supported initially by historians including Pierre Milza
Pierre Milza
Pierre Milza is a French historian, well-known as a specialist of fascism.He is a teacher at Institut d'Études Politiques de Paris.He wrote many books about Fascism and History of Italy. Some of his books are:I...
and Gérard Noiriel, and established by President Jacques Chirac
Jacques Chirac
Jacques René Chirac is a French politician who served as President of France from 1995 to 2007. He previously served as Prime Minister of France from 1974 to 1976 and from 1986 to 1988 , and as Mayor of Paris from 1977 to 1995.After completing his studies of the DEA's degree at the...
with a mission to "contribute to the recognition of the integration of immigrants into French society and advance the views and attitudes on immigration in France". It opened without public ceremony in late 2007 under his successor, President Nicolas Sarkozy
Nicolas Sarkozy
Nicolas Sarkozy is the 23rd and current President of the French Republic and ex officio Co-Prince of Andorra. He assumed the office on 16 May 2007 after defeating the Socialist Party candidate Ségolène Royal 10 days earlier....
, amid political controversy in which eight of the twelve academics involved in the project resigned.
The museum occupies the Palais de la Porte Dorée
Palais de la Porte Dorée
The Palais de la Porte Dorée is an exhibit hall located on the edge of the Bois de Vincennes at 293, avenue Daumesnil, XIIe arrondissement of Paris, France...
, formerly the home of the Musée national des Arts d'Afrique et d'Océanie
Musée national des Arts d'Afrique et d'Océanie
The Musée national des Arts d'Afrique et d'Océanie was a museum formerly located in the Palais de la Porte Dorée on the edge of the Bois de Vincennes at 293, avenue Daumesnil in the XIIe arrondissement, Paris, France....
, on the edge of the Bois de Vincennes
Bois de Vincennes
The Bois de Vincennes is a park in the English landscape manner to the east of Paris. The park is named after the nearby town of Vincennes....
. It contains over 1100 m² of exhibition space devoted primarily to the history and culture of immigration in France from the early nineteenth century to the present. A permanent installation, "Benchmarks", contains interactive exhibits presenting immigrant stories in multimedia form. The museum's collections are organized by three main themes: images including photography by Eugène Atget
Eugène Atget
Eugène Atget was a French photographer noted for his photographs documenting the architecture and street scenes of Paris....
, Gérald Bloncourt
Gerald Bloncourt
Gérald Bloncourt , also known as Gérard Bloncourt, is a Haitian painter and photographer resident in the suburbs of Paris, France. Born in the small city of Bainet, in Haiti's Southeast Department, Bloncourt is a founding member of the Centre d'Art. Besides painting watercolors and frescoes, he...
, Robert Capa
Robert Capa
Robert Capa was a Hungarian combat photographer and photojournalist who covered five different wars: the Spanish Civil War, the Second Sino-Japanese War, World War II across Europe, the 1948 Arab-Israeli War, and the First Indochina War...
, Yves Jackson, Jean Jacques Pottier, etc., as well as prints, posters, drawings press, cartoons, comic books, audiovisual materials; objects of daily life; and works of art concerning immigration, territory, borders, and roots.