• Go to navigation
  • Go to content

Download PDF files

    • Le musée - 808ko - PDF file
    • Plan d'orientation du musée - 1069ko - PDF file
    • Brochure de Saison 20-21 - 7693ko - PDF file
    • Brochure pour les familles "Les Aventuriers du musée du quai Branly - Jacques Chirac" - 2732ko - PDF file
    • Guide des collections - 5056ko - PDF file
    • Mon p'tit guide (enfants) - 5022ko - PDF file
    • Guide d'exploration tactile - 898ko - PDF file
    • Guide d'exploration tactile (thermogonflé) - 2418ko - PDF file
    • Guide d'exploration du jardin - 2476ko - PDF file
    • Brochure scolaire et périscolaire 2020-2021 - 2174ko - PDF file
    • The museum - 799ko - PDF file
    • Museum map - 1067ko - PDF file
    • Season 2020-2021 - 18469ko - PDF file
    • Guide for the exploration of the collections - 3495ko - PDF file
    • My Little Guide - 4597ko - PDF file
    • El Museo - 794ko - PDF file
    • Mapa del museo - 1099ko - PDF file
    • Mi pequeña guía de exploración - 3934ko - PDF file
    • Guía de exploración de las colecciones - 3561ko - PDF file
    • 博物馆 - 1171ko - PDF file
    • 导览路线图 - 1195ko - PDF file
    • 我的微型探险指南 - 4194ko - PDF file
    • 展品系列探索指南 - 3768ko - PDF file
    • 博物館 - 990ko - PDF file
    • 美術館のご案内 - 1151ko - PDF file
    • Il museo - 878ko - PDF file
    • Piantina di orientamento - 1073ko - PDF file
    • "La mia piccola guida da esploratore" - 4360ko - PDF file
    • Guida all’esplorazione delle collezioni - 3500ko - PDF file
    • Das Museum - 887ko - PDF file
    • Orientierungsplan - 1068ko - PDF file
    • Mein kleiner Expeditionsführer - 3949ko - PDF file
    • Führer durch die Sammlungen - 3504ko - PDF file
    • O museu - 801ko - PDF file
    • Mapa de orientação - 1076ko - PDF file
    • "O Meu Pequeno Guia de Exploração" - 3933ko - PDF file
    • Guia de Exploração das Coleções - 3516ko - PDF file
    • المتحف - 897ko - PDF file
    • خطة للمتحف - 2682ko - PDF file
    • للاستكشاف الصغير دليلي - 3962ko - PDF file
    • دليل استكشاف مجموعة المقتنيات - 3070ko - PDF file
Close
  • Research
    Research
  • Ticketing
    Ticketing
  • Informations
    Informations
  • Diary
    Diary
  • Multimedias
    Multimedias
  • Interactive map
    Interactive map
Quai Branly - Jacques Chirac museumVisitors with disabilities
  • EN
    • FR
    • ES
    • See the downloadable PDF documents
  • Facebook
  • Twitter
  • Instagram
Quai Branly - Jacques Chirac museum
  • Useful information
  • Collections
  • Exhibitions and events
  • Scientific research
  • Support

Quai Branly - Jacques Chirac museum

Main menu

Come

  • Schedules, rates and access
  • Purchase your ticket
  • Become a member
  • Media library and reading room
  • Museum restaurants, gift & bookshop

Go further

  • Tours and workshops
  • Visitors' tools
Keep in touch

All collections

  • Explore Collections
  • Pavillon des Sessions
  • The main Collections level
  • History of the Collections
  • Photography at the Museum

Living collections

  • Autour des collections
  • Loans and partnerships
  • New Acquisitions
Actualités

At the museum

  • Exhibitions
  • Shows, festivals and events
  • Jacques Kerchache reading room events
  • Université populaire
  • Cinema

Offsite

  • Nomad workshops
  • Touring exhibitions
Supporting exhibitions

Catalog

  • Library and documentary collection
  • Publications

Activities

  • Colloquiums and symposiums
  • Scholarships and thesis prizes
Supporting research projects

You are a...

  • Company / foundation

You are a...

  • Private individual

Footer menu

Newsroom

  • Information kits, press releases, trailers
  • Press contact

Publications

  • The museum publications

Professionals

  • Privatization of public areas
  • Touring Exhibitions
  • Loan requests and deposit of works
  • Ordering photographs and film shootings
  • Charte Marianne - Suppliers
  • Public procurements

If you are

  • Member
  • Teacher or facilitator
  • Young: 18-30 years
  • Child and family
  • Social worker & representative
  • Tourism professional
  • Works council, community, association
  • Visitors with disabilities
  • Researcher or student

Public areas

  • An architecture for a dream
  • The garden
  • The living wall of greenery
  • The book & gift shop
  • Museum restaurants
  • The River
  • The collections area and the ramp
  • La réserve des intruments de musique
  • Atelier Martine Aublet
  • Claude Lévi-Strauss Theater
  • Cinema
  • Aboriginal works on the roof and ceilings
  • Media library and Jacques Kerchache Reading Room

Let's stay in touch!

  • Contact
  • All social media

    • Facebook
    • Twitter
    • Instagram
    • Youtube
  • Social networks

Legal notices

  • Legal notices
  • Accessibilité numérique
  • Delegation of signature
  • Site map
  • Assistance
  • Rules for visitors
  • Cookies
  • Personal data

Missions and operations

  • The musée du quai Branly - Jacques Chirac
  • Deliberative and consultative bodies
  • Sustainable development
  • Cultural democratization and regional action
  • Key figures
  • Activity reports
  • Team
  • Careers
  • Bonne année 2021
  • Jacques Chirac
  • Physical disabilities
  • Visual impairments
  • Hearing disabilities
  • Mental disabilities
  • Espace LSF
image
Le musée du quai Branly - Jacques Chirac est un établissement public national à caractère administratif, placé sous la tutelle conjointe du ministère de la Culture et du ministère de l'Enseignement supérieur, de la Recherche et de l'Innovation.
The museum of Quai Branly

Pavillon des Sessions

Siège cérémoniel

Siège cérémoniel

Chairs with duho backs belonged to chiefs and shamans. They sat on these chairs to enter the ecstatic trances provoked by consuming hallucinogenic substances. In the 16th century, after the arrival of the Europeans in the Greater Antilles, the Taino culture disappeared within 20 years.

Taino people, Island of Hispaniola (Haiti or Dominican Republic), Greater Antilles. 1200-1500 AD. Guaiac wood H. 42 cm; L. 78 cm. Donation from F. and R. David-Weill. Inv. 71.1950.77.1 Am © musée du quai Branly - Jacques Chirac, photo Hughes Dubois
Sculpture of the god Gou by Akati Ekplékendo

Sculpture of the god Gou by Akati Ekplékendo

Among the Fon, Gou was the god of war and metal. This sculpture is attributed to Akati Ekplekendo, who produced it before 1858, in the early years of the reign of king Glele. The statue was exhibited at the musée d'Ethnographie du Trocadéro after the Palace of Abomey was taken by French troops in 1894.

Akati Ekplékendo, Fon people, Benin, Abomey 1858. Iron, wood, H. 165 cm, donation from Captain E. Fonssagrives, inv.71.1894.32.1 © musée du quai Branly - Jacques Chirac, photo Hughes Dubois
Anthropomorphic statuette

Anthropomorphic statuette

Incarnations of gods or goddesses in a stripped down form, Nukuroro sculptures were preserved in temples or clan houses. To thank them for the fertility of the lands, the sea and humans, they received offerings such as the first fruit of the harvest or personal ornamentation.

Nukuoro atoll, Caroline Islands, Oceania. Late 18th century Wood. H. 35 cm. Donation from G.H. Rivière. inv.71.1933.2.1 Oc © musée du quai Branly - Jacques Chirac
Transformation mask

Transformation mask

A simple mechanical device enables the sides to be opened and closed. The mask can appear to be a raven or reveal a human face. It would stimulate the surprise and wonder of the audience gathered for the great winter ceremonies marked by the presence of the spirits of the ancestors among the living.

Kwakwaka'wakw (kwakiutl) people, British Columbia, Canada. 19th century. Painted wood, graphite, cedar, canvas, cord. 34 x 53 cm closed, 130 cm open. Former C. Lévi-Strauss collection, inv. 71.1951.35.1 © musée du quai Branly - Jacques Chirac, photo Hughes Dubois
Spoon

Spoon

An object of prestige, this spoon was used to take food from the common serving dish. Each guest would serve themselves with their own spoon, in hierarchical order, during collective meals which were also a means of paying homage to the ancestors.

Zulu people, province of Kwazulu-Natal, South Africa, 19th - early 20th century. Wood, H. 57 cm, legacy from E.-V. St. Paul, inv.71.1977.52.14 © musée du quai Branly - Jacques Chirac, photo Hughes Dubois
Figure related to funerary ritual

Figure related to funerary ritual

The uli statues were used during rituals honoring the dead. With a beard, marked musculature and other signs of virility, this sculpture was an idealised representation of the powerful and aggressive chief. The prominent female chest evokes the capacity of this strong man to feed his people.

New Ireland Island, Papua New Guinea 18th - early 19th century Wood, pigments, turbo shells, H. 150 cm. Collected by Franz Boluminski, 1908 former collections Museum für Völkerkunde de Leipzig, Alain Schoffel. Inv. 70.1999.2.1 © musée du quai Branly - Jacques Chirac, phot
Statue of ancestor

Statue of ancestor

Known as adu, "ancestral spirit", this statuette served as a receptacle for the soul of the dead person, and was used for offerings. It brought prosperity and health. The figure is stylised although its hair and jewelry are very detailed. The sculpture is also very well-known because it was photographed by Man Ray.

North of the island of Nias, Indonesia. 19th century. Sculpted wood, encrusted patina. H. 55.7 cm. Former A. Breton, H. Rubinstein, A. Schoffel collections, inv. 70.1999.3.1 © musée du quai Branly - Jacques Chirac, photo Hughes Dubois
Slit drum

Slit drum

Considered as one of the most beautiful examples of drums in African woods, this instrument depicts a stylised bovine figure; a sign of wealth or chiefly authority. It was used to announce war or hunting, to announce the holding of councils, festivals and other events.

Yangere people, Oubangui river, Central African Republic, African mahogany, L. 229 cm H. 80 cm, Inv. 71.1896.28.72.1 © musée du quai Branly - Jacques Chirac, photo Hughes Dubois
Figure of the god Kuka'ilimoku

Figure of the god Kuka'ilimoku

We must imagine this basketwork structure covered in small red, yellow and black feathers. It is a representation of a god of war. The sculpture, composed of rare materials, is technically very difficult to execute. It may have been collected during the third voyage of James Cook to Hawaii in 1778-1779.

Hawaii Islands. 18th century. Basketry, mother-of-pearl shell, dog teeth. H. 67 cm. Collected before 1796. Former collections of the Bibliothèque nationale-muséum des antiques. Inv. 71.1878.30.15 © musée du quai Branly - Jacques Chirac, photo Hughues Dubois
Female statuette

Female statuette

This rare female statuette was probably related to initiation or funerary rites associated with fertility and with the annual cycle of death and rebirth. The Chupícuaro culture is located close to a village containing ancient cemeteries but which are now completely covered by the waters of a dam.

Chupícuaro, Rio Lerma, Mexico, 600-100 B.C. Terracotta with slip. H. 31 cm. Former G. Joussemet collection © musée du quai Branly - Jacques Chirac, photo Hughes Dubois
Statue masculine

Statue masculine

Ce type de sculpture était fixé sur le côté de grands tambours à fente, utilisés pour avertir les villageois des évènements importants.

Nigéria, population Mbembe, 17ème siècle, bois, 66x57x56cm, inv. 73.1974.1.1

 

Share

  • Share on Facebook
  • Share on Twitter

View other parcours

Pavillon des Sessions, 11 items(s)

Pavillon des Sessions

11 items(s)

  • Home
  • All themed tours
  • Pavillon des Sessions

Use the arrows on your keyboard or scroll your mouse to navigate