The Palais de la Porte Dorée is an exhibit hall located on the edge of the

Bois de Vincennes The Bois de Vincennes (), located on the eastern edge of Paris, is the largest public park in the city. It was created between 1855 and 1866 by Emperor Napoleon III. The park is next to the Château de Vincennes, a former residence of the King ...

at 293, avenue Daumesnil,

12th arrondissement of Paris The 12th arrondissement of Paris (''XIIe arrondissement'') is one of the 20 arrondissements of the capital city of France. In spoken French, it is referred to as ''le douzième'' ("the twelfth"). Situated on the right bank of the River Seine, it ...

France France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of Overseas France, overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic Ocean, Atlantic, Pacific Ocean, Pac ...

. It now houses the Musée de l'Histoire de l'Immigration, as well as a tropical aquarium in its cellar. The building was constructed for the Paris Colonial Exposition of 1931 to designs by French architect

Albert Laprade Albert Laprade (29 November 1883 – 9 May 1978) was a French architect, perhaps best known for the Palais de la Porte Dorée. During a long career he undertook many urban renewal projects as well as major industrial and commercial works. A ski ...

Léon Jaussely Léon Jaussely (9 January 1875 – 28 December 1932) was a French architect and urban planner. Born in Toulouse, Jaussely studied at the local fine arts school, then to the École des Beaux-Arts in the ateliers of Honoré Daumet and Pierre Esqui ...

and

Léon Bazin Léon-Emile Bazin (1900-1976) was a French architect. Life Léon-Emile Bazin was born in Lausanne, Switzerland, in 1900. In 1915 he joined the firm of Henri Prost, where he met Albert Laprade and Joseph Marrast. In 1923 he enrolled in the Éco ...

. It provides 16,000 m² of exhibition and office space. External

bas-relief Relief is a sculptural method in which the sculpted pieces are bonded to a solid background of the same material. The term '' relief'' is from the Latin verb ''relevo'', to raise. To create a sculpture in relief is to give the impression that th ...

s (1200 m²) by sculptor Alfred Janniot portray ships, oceans, and wildlife including

antelope The term antelope is used to refer to many species of even-toed ruminant that are indigenous to various regions in Africa and Eurasia. Antelope comprise a wastebasket taxon defined as any of numerous Old World grazing and browsing hoofed mamm ...

elephant Elephants are the largest existing land animals. Three living species are currently recognised: the African bush elephant, the African forest elephant, and the Asian elephant. They are the only surviving members of the family Elephantida ...

zebra Zebras (, ) (subgenus ''Hippotigris'') are African equines with distinctive black-and-white striped coats. There are three living species: the Grévy's zebra (''Equus grevyi''), plains zebra (''E. quagga''), and the mountain zebra (''E. zebr ...

s, and

snake Snakes are elongated, limbless, carnivorous reptiles of the suborder Serpentes . Like all other squamates, snakes are ectothermic, amniote vertebrates covered in overlapping scales. Many species of snakes have skulls with several more ...

s. The building's bas-reliefs and interior frescoes present an idealized version of

colonialism Colonialism is a practice or policy of control by one people or power over other people or areas, often by establishing colonies and generally with the aim of economic dominance. In the process of colonisation, colonisers may impose their reli ...

that ignores colonialism's negative impacts. The building is considered a landmark of

Art Deco Art Deco, short for the French ''Arts Décoratifs'', and sometimes just called Deco, is a style of visual arts, architecture, and product design, that first appeared in France in the 1910s (just before World War I), and flourished in the Unit ...

architecture. The Palais de la Porte Dorée has housed a succession of

ethnological Ethnology (from the grc-gre, ἔθνος, meaning 'nation') is an academic field that compares and analyzes the characteristics of different peoples and the relationships between them (compare cultural, social, or sociocultural anthropology). ...

museums, starting with the colonial exhibition of 1931, which was renamed in 1935 the Musée de la France d’Outre-mer, then in 1960 the Musée des Arts africains et océaniens, and finally in 1990 the

Musée national des Arts d'Afrique et d'Océanie The Musée national des Arts d'Afrique et d'Océanie (National Museum of Arts of Africa and Oceania) was a museum formerly located in the Palais de la Porte Dorée on the edge of the Bois de Vincennes at 293, avenue Daumesnil in the 12th arrondissem ...

. In 2003 these collections were merged into the Musée du quai Branly, and in its place the building now houses the

Cité nationale de l'histoire de l'immigration The Cité nationale de l'histoire de l'immigration is a museum of immigration history located in the 12th arrondissement of Paris at 293, avenue Daumesnil. The nearest métro station is Porte Dorée. It is open Tuesday through Friday from 10 a.m. ...

. The building's cellar is home to the Dorée Tropical Aquarium (french: links=no, Aquarium du palais de la Porte Dorée), which contains about 5,000 animals representing 350

species In biology, a species is the basic unit of classification and a taxonomic rank of an organism, as well as a unit of biodiversity. A species is often defined as the largest group of organisms in which any two individuals of the appropriat ...

in a variety of tanks ranging from in size.

References

External links

Palais de la Porte Dorée - Cité nationale de l'histoire de l'immigration

Aquarium Tropical, Palais de la Porte Dorée
{{DEFAULTSORT:Palais de la Porte Doree Aquaria in Paris Museums in Paris National museums of France Buildings and structures completed in 1931 Articles needing infobox zoo Buildings and structures in the 12th arrondissement of Paris Art Deco architecture in France Paris Colonial Exposition

See also

References

External links