|
The final product, which was 13 years in the making under three French presidents, is an expensive cultural gamble at a cost of more than 200 million euros ($260 million). "It looks impressive, and we all hope it will succeed. We need real change here, renewal," said Chloe Rabuel, a Marseille bartender. "But we have to wait and see. Will people come?" The museum has been designed to attract as many foreign tourists as possible, with captions written in French, English and Arabic. The site is some 15 minutes from the Marseille-Provence airport. The collections represent dozens of cultures and their histories. Though half of museum's works drew on the collection from Paris' Museum of Popular Arts and Traditions
-- a vast folklore museum that is now defunct -- the other half, including classical antiquities, comes from loans from other museums, particularly from Greece. "We're representing the entire Mediterranean narrative," said Zeev Gourarier, the museum's curator. "We represent not just the victories of the revolutions in thinking and invention, but also the uncomfortable truths. ... Just like the history of Marseille has not been easy, the history of the Mediterranean has also been about repression, walls, false steps and violence. History repeats itself."
[Associated
Press;
Copyright 2013 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
News | Sports | Business | Rural Review | Teaching & Learning | Home and Family | Tourism | Obituaries
Community |
Perspectives
|
Law & Courts |
Leisure Time
|
Spiritual Life |
Health & Fitness |
Teen Scene
Calendar
|
Letters to the Editor