No subject

Amid controversy over immigration and the proper role of ethnography,
Jacques Chirac prepares to open a major new museum in the city that =
launched
his career


IT HAS become a tradition under France's fifth republic for each =
president
to leave his architectural imprint on the Paris skyline. Georges =
Pompidou
had his Pompidou Centre, completed after his death. Fran=E7ois =
Mitterrand
sprinkled across the French capital a pyramid in the courtyard of the
Louvre, the Bastille opera house, a grand arch and a national library. =
Now,
in the twilight of his presidency, Jacques Chirac too is about to have =
his
turn.

On June 20th the French president will inaugurate the Mus=E9e du Quai =
Branly,
the city's biggest newly built museum since the futuristic-looking =
Pompidou
Centre opened nearly 30 years ago. Standing in the shadow of the Eiffel
Tower, Quai Branly is devoted to the =93art and civilisation of Africa, =
Asia,
Oceania and the Americas=94.


The museum startles in many senses. It is a modernist architectural gem =
in
the heart of historic Paris. It is a controversial project devised by a
president who is better known for his conservatism. And it is a symbolic
effort to reach out to non-European civilisations at a time when France =
is
having particular trouble digesting the offspring of such cultures at =
home.

Eleven years in the making, the euro232.5m ($293m), state-financed =
project
began as Mr Chirac's bid to counter =93the arrogance and =
ethnocentrism=94 of
Europe's museums and to create a prestigious home for the world's =
=93forgotten
civilisations=94. Long fascinated by statues and masks from Africa and =
Asia,
Mr Chirac has been known to portray himself as the defender of the =
world's
downtrodden against the march of American-led Western cultural =
imperialism.
=93Against those who preach confrontation, violence, hate,=94 he =
declared two
years ago, the museum would send =93the humanist message of respect for
diversity and the dialogue of cultures=94.=20