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,
Tahiti
Tahiti (; Tahitian language, Tahitian , ; ) is the largest island of the Windward Islands (Society Islands), Windward group of the Society Islands in French Polynesia, an overseas collectivity of France. It is located in the central part of t ...
.
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 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 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 and COVID pandemic), caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), began with an disease outbreak, outbreak of COVID-19 in Wuhan, China, in December ...
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 Museum, public museum dedicated to human history, art and culture located in the Bloomsbury area of London. Its permanent collection of eight million works is the largest in the world. It documents the story of human cu ...
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 painted by
Charles Giraud; a Mangarevan coconut-log mask; historic examples of
tapa; adzes and coconut pounders;
breadfruit
Breadfruit (''Artocarpus altilis'') is a species of flowering tree in the mulberry and jackfruit family ( Moraceae) believed to have been selectively bred in Polynesia from the breadnut ('' Artocarpus camansi''). Breadfruit was spread into ...
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
British Museum
The British Museum is a Museum, public museum dedicated to human history, art and culture located in the Bloomsbury area of London. Its permanent collection of eight million works is the largest in the world. It documents the story of human cu ...
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
statue of A'a from Rurutu.
Gallery of objects in overseas collections
File:Display of objects from Tahiti, Otago Museum, 2016-01-29.jpg, Objects in Otago Museum
File:Chief mourner's costume, Tahiti, Society Islands, Bishop Museum, 1971.198.001a-f.JPG, Chief mourner's costume, Tahiti, Society Islands, Bishop Museum
The Bernice Pauahi Bishop Museum, designated the Hawaii State Museum of Natural and Cultural History, is a museum of history and science in the historic Kalihi district of Honolulu, Hawaii, Honolulu on the Hawaiian island of Oʻahu. Founded in 1 ...
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, colloquially referred to as the Met, is an Encyclopedic museum, encyclopedic art museum in New York City. By floor area, it is the List of largest museums, third-largest museum in the world and the List of larg ...
Former directors
*
Jean-Marc Pambrun
*
Anne Lavondes
*
Manouche Lehartel
Manouche Lehartel is a French Polynesian dance expert. She has served repeatedly on the jury of the ''Hevia i Tahiti'' festival and cofounded the 'Ori Tahiti Nui dance competition. She was the first Polynesian director of the Musée de Tahiti et ...
*
Théano Jaillet (2011 - 2016)
*
Miriama Bono (2017–2023)
* Hinanui Cauchois (2023-present)
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
1970s establishments in French Polynesia
1974 establishments in Oceania
1974 establishments in the French colonial empire