Musée d'ethnographie du Trocadéro

About

The Museum of Ethnography of Trocadéro, the first Parisian ethnographic museum, was established in 1878 as the Ethnographic Museum of Scientific Missions by the Ministry of Public Instruction in the Palace of Trocadéro. Ernest Hamy, his first director, played a leading role in his creation. After a period of quite considerable activity until his resignation and his replacement by René Verneau in 1906, the lack of funds, inadequate premises and the mobilization of his staff during the First World War stopped his development and led to a partial deterioration of the collections.

In 1928 Paul Rivet was appointed head of the museum and attached to the chair of anthropology of the National Museum of Natural History. He undertook with collaborators such as Georges Henri Rivière to modernise ethnographic muséography, but the premises, considered insufficient to perform the function of museum, were demolished in 1935 to give way to the Palais de Chaillot. The museum reincarnates in 1937 in the form of the Musée de l'Homme, its French collections being placed in the National Museum of Popular Arts and Traditions created at the same time in the...