A visit to the Palais de la Porte D'Orée (Palace of the Golden Door), where the national immigration history museum is housed. It was originally built for the 1931 Colonial Exposition, which showed the glories (sic) of the French empire. The palace has over 250 figures sculpted on the exterior, showing all the colonies and the products they produced. Inside the walls are covered with murals. The building houses both the immigration museum and an aquarium. See link at left for more.
The permanent exhibit of the immigration museum documents immigration to France from the 19 century to the present. There is a special exhibit going on now, on the immigration story as told through comic books. The artist-writers are generally immigrants themselves. There are historical examples (eg the Katzenjammer Kids) but mostly they are contemporary and French.
2 comments:
If we ever make it to Paris (and Augie, of all people, has been lobbying for such a trip!), we'll definitely have to check out the immigration museum. Super interesting.
PS M, you make the life of an immigration historian seem *very* glamorous!
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