PARIS-PARC DE VINCENNES(2)-ZOO-OCEANIAN AFRICAN MUSEUM
Jack
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The zoological park (Parc zoologique) is a traditional family .
promenade purpose. Better than a lot of zoos because the settings are
inspired from the natural environment of the animals .When the zoo was
first opened it was a big innovation! Nowadays more zoos do the same.
The " thinkers" of the zoo succeeded creating distances with ditches
and little walls to separate visitors and animals with so much
"naturel". But for the poor beasts, a zoo remains a zoo !
One of the main attractions is an immense artificial rock of 65
meters, just renovated, where all sorts of mountain animals like
mountain goats.wild sheep, bouquetins, vultures and falcons live and
jump around. You can access trough a staircase or an elevator. It's
worth the detour because you mount inside the rock. The rock disposes
of 3 observatory platforms and a belvedere for a panorama on Paris.
Whole below you see some otters for whom a cascade was build. A few
very rare species as the great panda,the furry seal, the okapi, a
royal penguin, etc....
You will also be able to see Kaveri, an asian elephant, offered to
Francois Mitterand by Rajiv Gandhi as a gift and Yen-Yen, a 22 years
old panda, offered to Pompidou by Mao ze Dong. For the anecdote, you
have to know that Yen-Yeb arrived with his female companion, but
unfortunately, the great hopes the zoo keepers had placed in them,
were deceived :Lili was a male !!
The Chateau de Vincennes was financed by Mazarin, to have a place to
" secure his treasures and wealth in case of riots !" Abandoned as a
royal residence in the 18th century, the chateau was used as a prison
who received a few distinguished hosts :Fouquet, Diderot, marquis de
Sade, Mirabeau etc.... In the 19th it served as a military fortress,
undergoing severe damages.For more than a century now, a restoration
campaign tries to restore a little bit of his initial looks.
Now over to the avenue Daumesnil for the African and Oceanian art
amateurs !
The musee des Arts d'Afrique et d'Oceanie is maybe one of the most
underestimated museums of Paris but i find it a remarkable collection!
Maybe the museum suffers from a bad image. Indeed, his first name was
"Museum of the Colonies", from 1945 until 1960 "musee de la France
d'outremer ( overseas France)", with an important section about the
"virtues" of French colonization ( this section still conserved in the
cellars, is luckily not displayed any more) (??) Maybe i'm going be
flamed now by " nostalgics" ??
Under the iron rules of Andre Malraux, the museum finally, when the
old colonies gained their independence, turned into a resolute
artistic and esthetic place.
The building, constructed for the colonial fair of 1931 , is finally
(together with the Palais Chaillot) one of the rare testimonies of the
between the 2 wars architecture. It's here that the first use of
reinforced concrete was made. The fascinating sculpted facade , 100
meters long, is quite unique.
The museum is divided in 2 great sections :Oceanian arts and African
arts ( included the Maghreb). The Oceanian arts are sited around the
immense festival hall decorated by frescos, Puvis de Chavannes style,
celebrating the benefits of the French colonization. Take some time to
look over the details and the manner. Quite astonishing! It's a
mixture of "pompier" style ( conventional style) and abundant
exoticism, flamboyant, poetic. But the collections present the most
beautiful pieces of an absolutely extraordinary art.. Fabulous
imagination ( sometimes very near to abstract art) and finesse of
execution. Didn't Picasso himself, admit that he came very often at
this place to look for inspiration?
---Oceanian arts : masks of New-Guinea, in rich materials, engraved
bamboos, arrows, funeral mannequins, blackened terra cottas,
sculptures of Vanuatu, objects on the theme of the crocodile,
"overmodeled" skulls, very nice ornaments and head-dresses.
In another hall, dedicated to Australia : engraved stones, numerous
paintings on wood, acrylic paintings.
---African arts : first floor. Admirable little statues, seated
"Yoruba chief" with an enigmatic ironic face expression, ibo from
Nigeria, magical statues from Congo ( with nails), superb bronzes, a
giant parade pipe from Cameroun, initiation masks, musical
instruments. In the second room : Baoule fly-swatters, golden hangers,
very nice weighing material ( little stylized animals), Ashanti
funeral objects, Mossis dancer caskets, tissues, loin-cloths etc....
--- Arts of the Maghreb : second floor. Here also you can see superb
collections showing the extreme finesse of the arts in Morocco,
Algeria, Tunisia and the Sahara. Doors and chests in painted wood,
ceramic ink-pots, chiseled jewels, filigree-works in silver and gold,
enamels and precious stones. Nice Kabyle painted ceramics, Touareg
arms and ornaments, tissues and richly embroidered clothes ( wedding
boleros), very old Coranic scriptures, rifles encrusted with mother of
pearl ( nacre) and ivory etc...
---At the basement, an unavoidable complement for your visit is the
tropical aquarium. A great renovation effort puts it now at
international level with , very rare, a collection of primitive fish,
unchanged since 300 million years ! You can see them with outlines of
lungs and fins permitting reptation. And it is from them funny birds
that we are supposed to come from !!!! Have also a look at the curious
Malanochromis Auratus, who keeps his eggs in his mouth to incubate
them, and if the fries and breeding young fish are in danger, he
swallows them to protect them and spits them out again ! Wonders of
nature . Crocodile ditch as a bonus.
Well, i hereby finished the 12 th arrondissement. I have still the
13th, 15th and 17th i didn't write about. That will come. All in his
time.
Next post we will jump over again to the south of France and
off we go with Cannes the multiform, the eccentric, the commercial
of which a lot ( of good and bad) is to be said. Read all about it in
my next post !
Jack