Musée du Quai Branly

Musée du Quai Branly Review

Paris's newest museum was built by top architect Jean Nouvel to house the state-owned collection of "non-Western" art, culled from several other museums. Despite the interminable queues after the opening in 2006, the museum drew criticism for a seemingly incoherent assemblage of artifacts, from antiquity to the modern age. Critics questioned the connection between funeral masks from Melanesia, Siberian shaman drums, Indonesian textiles, and African statuary. A corkscrew ramp leads from the lobby to a cavernous exhibition space, color coded to designate sections from Asia, Africa, Oceania, and the Americas. The lighting is dim, sometimes too dim to read the information panels (which makes the €5 audioguide a good idea). Renowned for his bold modern edifices, Nouvel has said he wanted the museum to follow no rules. The exterior resembles a massive rust-color rectangle suspended on stilts. There are boxy shapes stuck to the facade facing the Seine, and louvered panels on the opposite side. The colors (dark reds, oranges, and yellows) are meant to evoke the tribal art within. A "living wall" of some 150 species of exotic plants grows on the exterior, which is surrounded by a wild jungle garden with swampy patches—an impressive sight after dark when scores of cylindrical colored lights are illuminated; think numerous minilight sabers poking out of the ground. The name, strangely taken from the street address, is thought by many to be temporary until, after a respectable waiting period, it can be rechristened in honor of its chief backer, former President Jacques Chirac. Feel like splurging? Les Ombres restaurant on the museum's fifth floor (separate entrance) has one of the best views of the Tour Eiffel—and prices to match. The budget-conscious can enjoy the garden at Le Café Branly on the ground floor.