The Musée de Tahiti et des Îles ("Museum of Tahiti and the Islands"), Tahitian Te Fare Manaha ("the Museum"), is the national museum of French Polynesia, located in

Puna'auia Punaauia is a commune in France, commune in the suburbs of Pape'ete, Papeete in French Polynesia, an overseas territory of France in the Pacific Ocean. Punaauia is located on the island of Tahiti, in the French Polynesia#Administrative divisions, ...

Tahiti Tahiti (; Tahitian ; ; previously also known as Otaheite) is the largest island of the Windward group of the Society Islands in French Polynesia. It is located in the central part of the Pacific Ocean and the nearest major landmass is Austra ...

History

The museum was founded in 1974 to conserve and restore Polynesian artefacts and cultural practices. The museum was constructed on Nu'uroa Point, which was already a historic location having been the site of the

Taputapuatea marae Marae Taputapuatea is a large marae complex at Opoa in Taputapuatea, on the south eastern coast of Raiatea. The site features a number of marae and other stone structures and was once considered the central temple and religious center of Eastern ...

and where the first evangelical mission settled. It has signed cooperation agreements with the Musée du quai Branly. The museum established a library in 1980. In 2016

photovoltaic panels Photovoltaics (PV) is the conversion of light into electricity using semiconducting materials that exhibit the photovoltaic effect, a phenomenon studied in physics, photochemistry, and electrochemistry. The photovoltaic effect is commercially us ...

were installed on the roof of museum in order to generate its own electricity supply. In 2017 plans for renovation and redesign of the museum, drawn up by the architect Pierre-Jean Picart ( fr), were approved. The museum closed to the public in 2019 and is due to re-open in August 2022 with re-developed galleries.

Engagement

In 2021 the museum opened the temporary Tahiti ti'a Mai exhibition, which focussed on Tahitian celebrations, due to the

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic, also known as the coronavirus pandemic, is an ongoing global pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The novel virus was first identi ...

ran digital workshops which engaged with over 3000 visitors. The museum has curated displays of objects at Tahiti's airport. Leading up to its opening in 2018 museum staff were part of a team that co-curated the

British Museum The British Museum is a public museum dedicated to human history, art and culture located in the Bloomsbury area of London. Its permanent collection of eight million works is among the largest and most comprehensive in existence. It docum ...

exhibition ''Reimagining Captain Cook: Pacific Perspectives''.

Collection

The collection includes: objects that reflect the natural world, including a herbarium; life prior to European colonisation, and life post-colonization. Significant objects in the collection include: a portrait of

Pōmare IV Pōmare IV (28 February 1813 – 17 September 1877), more properly ʻAimata Pōmare IV Vahine-o-Punuateraʻitua (otherwise known as ʻAimata – "eye-eater", after an old custom of the ruler to eat the eye of the defeated foe), was the Queen of ...

painted by

Charles Giraud Charles Joseph Barthélémy Giraud (20 February 1802 – 13 July 1881) was a French lawyer and politician. He was twice Minister of Education during the French Second Republic. Early years Charles Joseph Barthélémy Giraud was born on 20 Februa ...

; a Mangarevan coconut-log mask; historic examples of tapa; adzes and coconut pounders; breadfruit tools; amongst others. The collection also includes objects originally collected by missionary George Bennet that have since been returned to Tahiti.

Gallery

File:Human image, tuff, Society Islands, Musée de Tahiti et des Îles.JPG, Human image, tuff, Society Islands, Musée de Tahiti et des Îles File:Portrait of Queen Pomare IV of Tahiti, Charles Giraud, 1851, Musée de Tahiti et des Îles.jpg, Portrait of Queen Pomare IV of Tahiti, Charles Giraud, 1851, Musée de Tahiti et des Îles File:FP-tahiti-museum-03.jpg, Displays at the museum, prior to renovation in 2017. File:FP-tahiti-museum-01.jpg, Museum display, prior to renovation in 2017.

Repatriation and loans

In September 2019 the Director of the Musée du quai Branly, Emmanuel Kasarhérou, and the Minister for Culture in Polynesia, Heremoana Maamaatuaiahutapu, and the Director of Musée de Tahiti et des Îles, Miriama Bono, signed an agreement to ensure the return to Tahiti of the Maro'ura - a fragment of a chiefly belt made of tapa, that was born by chiefs and is considered a sacred object. The Maro'ura was worn by Tahitian king Pōmare, whose appearance with it was described by James Cook in 1767. Legally the Maro'ura will be loaned to the museum on a three-year renewable agreement, as, according to Bono, since "as we are a French, we cannot ask France to repatriate something back to France." Other objects that will also be loaned include a To'o mata and a Taavaha from the Marquesas Islands and a penu. The museum has also requested the loan of objects from the

and the Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology, Cambridge. Objects loaned from Cambridge will include objects collected by missionary George Bennet, including Tahitian pearl earrings, a fly swatter, a drum and a tattoo set. Objects due to be loaned from the British Museum include a chief's belt of Anaa, a taumi of the Society, a statue of Rongo des Gambier and the famous

statue of A'a from Rurutu The Statue of A'a from Rurutu is a wooden sculpture of the god A'a that was made on the Pacific island of Rurutu in the Austral archipelago. In the early nineteenth century, the sculpture was given by the islanders to the London Missionary Soci ...

Gallery of objects in overseas collections

File:Display of objects from Tahiti, Otago Museum, 2016-01-29.jpg, Objects in

Otago Museum Tūhura Otago Museum is located in the city centre of Dunedin, New Zealand. It is adjacent to the University of Otago campus in Dunedin North, 1,500 metres northeast of the city centre. It is one of the city's leading attractions and has one of t ...

File:Chief mourner's costume, Tahiti, Society Islands, Bishop Museum, 1971.198.001a-f.JPG, Chief mourner's costume, Tahiti, Society Islands, Bishop Museum File:National Museum of Ethnology, Osaka - Fishhook (replica) - Tahiti Islands in French Polynesia - Made by Tetuira Roger in 1985.jpg, Fishhook, National Museum of Ethnology, Osaka File:Tahiti-Oro.jpg, A sacred god figure wrapping for the war god 'Oro,

Metropolitan Museum of Art The Metropolitan Museum of Art of New York City, colloquially "the Met", is the largest art museum in the Americas. Its permanent collection contains over two million works, divided among 17 curatorial departments. The main building at 1000 ...

Former directors

* Jean-Marc Pambrun * Anne Lavondes * Manouche Lehartel

References

External links

Official site

The Tahiti Ti'a Mai exhibition at the Museum of Tahiti and the Islands
{{DEFAULTSORT:Musee De Tahiti Et Des Iles Museums in Tahiti Ethnographic museums Museums established in 1974 1974 establishments in French Polynesia