The Louvre is committed to "making the place of colonial slavery better known" in its collections

The Louvre Museum signed an agreement on Wednesday to "promote the transmission of the memory of slavery" as well as the "fights for its abolition", announced in a press release the foundation with which the institution is committed.

"With this partnership, the Louvre Museum and the Foundation for the Memory of Slavery (FME) affirm their common desire to make better known the place that colonial slavery and the fights for its abolition occupy in the history of the France and the world, ”wrote the FME, indicating that the agreement was initialed on Wednesday by the president and director of the museum, Laurence des Cars and the president of the Foundation, former Prime Minister Jean-Marc Ayrault.

The partnership with the Louvre - which drew nearly 8 million visitors in 2022 -, notably provides for "the development of mediation actions within the spaces of the museum (...), the production of educational resources as well as training teachers and group guides.

The two institutions thus want to “develop knowledge of the history and memory of slavery among the widest possible public, in particular 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 promotion of this work".

The approach, we can read in the press release, is part of an “international movement which questions the imprint left by this period on the arts, culture, heritage and the institutions responsible for preserving them”.