Atlantica - 01.10.2006, Page 40

PARISa
38 AT L A N T I CA
Au P’tit Cahoua, 39, boulevard Saint Marcel 75013 Tel. +33 1 47 07 24 42
404, 69, rue des Gravilliers 75003 Tel. +33 1 42 74 57 81
Wally le Saharien, 36, rue Rodier 9ième Tel. +33 1 42 85 51 90
Hammam de la mosquée, 39 rue Geoffroy St. Hilaire, place du Puits-de-l’Ermite
Tel. +33 1 43 31 38 20
Musée du quai Branly, 222 rue de l’Université 75007, quaibranly.fr
Institut du Monde Arabe, 1, rue des Fossés-Saint-Bernard, Place Mohammed V,
75236 Tel. +33 1 40 51 38 38, imarabe.org
It’s possible to learn more about North African
culture than the food on even a short visit to
Paris. The Institute of the Arab World, designed
by legendary architect Jean Nouvel, has an exten-
sive library, numerous exhibitions, and an outdoor
summer cinema series. Take the glass elevator to
the top floor to see a stunning view of Paris from
the roof.
Further along the river Seine, virtually next to
the Eiffel Tower, the musée du quai Branly, a pet
project of President Jacques Chirac, opened in
June this year in an impressive new building also
created by Nouvel.
The museum features numerous exhibits and
300,000 objects on non-European cultures,
including various African artifacts. Controversy
surrounding the museum before its opening (the
original working title was the obviously question-
able “Museum of Primitive Art”) does not seem to
have diminished interest, however, and there is a
long snaking queue to gain admission and up the
winding path to the display areas. The long, nar-
row Africa section is a delight for anyone with an
interest in the continent. The collection includes
carved wooden masks from West Africa, with
puckered mouths and closed slanted eyes, plainly
decorated funeral urns from East Africa, colorfully
embroidered marriage garments from the north,
and creepy fetishes from the Congo, including a
fierce one-foot figure covered in rusty nails for
armor and wielding a carved spear.
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FOOD FOR THOUGHT
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WHERE TO GO
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