The Palais de la Porte Dorée is an exhibit hall located on the edge of the Bois de Vincennes 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 i ...

, France. 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,

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 Esqu ...

and Léon Bazin. 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 the ...

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 Elephantidae a ...

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. z ...

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 relig ...

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 Unite ...

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 arrondiss ...

. 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 building's cellar is home to the

Dorée Tropical Aquarium Doree or Dorée may refer to: People * Ada Dorée (1850–1916), English singer and actor * Doree, character in the 2009 text '' Too Much Happiness'' * Doree Lewak ( 2008), American writer and humorist * Doree Macy, character in the 1931 film ...

(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 Taxonomy (biology), 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 ...

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