Cité nationale de l'histoire de l'immigration, Migration museum in Palais de la Porte Dorée, Paris, France
The Cité nationale de l'histoire de l'immigration is a museum in the Palais de la Porte Dorée that presents two centuries of French immigration through historical artifacts, photographs, documents, and multimedia installations. The building contains multiple exhibition spaces, including galleries for rotating displays and permanent collections.
The Palais de la Porte Dorée opened in 1931 as a colonial exhibition venue and reflected the architecture of that era. The building was later repurposed and began housing the immigration history collections in the early 2000s, becoming the official national institution in 2007.
The museum displays personal objects, letters, and stories from immigrant families, showing how they built their lives in France. You can sense the human side of migration through everyday items and handwritten accounts that speak directly to visitors.
The museum is open Tuesday to Friday from 10 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. and on weekends from 10 a.m. to 7 p.m. Visitors should plan to spend a few hours exploring the galleries, and guided tours are available for those interested in more context.
The Abdelmalek Sayad Resource Centre holds extensive archives with films, posters, and documents reaching back to the 19th century. These collections offer insight into visual records of migration movements across generations.
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