"With this partnership, the Louvre Museum and the Foundation for the Memory of Slavery (FME) affirm their common desire to raise awareness of the place that colonial slavery and the struggles for its abolition occupy in the history of France and the world," the WFE wrote, indicating that the agreement was initialed Wednesday by the museum's president and director. Laurence des Cars and the President of the Foundation, former Prime Minister Jean-Marc Ayrault.
The partnership with the Louvre - which attracted nearly 8 million visitors in 2022 - provides in particular for "the development of mediation actions within the museum's spaces (...), the production of educational resources as well as the training of teachers and group leaders".
Thus, the two institutions want to "develop knowledge of the history and memory of slavery among the widest possible public, especially school groups".
The agreement also provides for "support for research on the place of slavery and its memory in the collections of the Louvre Museum (...) and the valorization of this work".
The approach, the statement reads, is part of an "international movement that questions the imprint left by this period on the arts, culture, heritage and the institutions responsible for preserving them".
© 2023 AFP