The Bardo museum in Algiers |
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Collection title
Collection EPTV
First broadcast date
02/16/2000
Abstract
Report on the Bardo museum in Algiers and the different roles it was deseigned to. The Bardo musuem was built around the 18th century, originally it was a summer palace which belonged to Prince Omar, then to Ali Bey. The Bardo was declared as a historical monument in September 1985;it is composed of two parts corresponding to two different periods. It was refurbished and now countains valuable ethnography collection.
Interview with Aicha Boucli, Director of the Bardo.
Broadcaster
EPTV - Canal Algérie
Audiovisual form
Documentary
Secondary themes
- Historical heritages
- Tourism and cultural sites / Architecture
Credits / Cast
- Choubane Safia - Journalist
Map locations
- Algeria - Centre - Algiers
Context
The Musée du Bardo in Algiers
Cyril Isnart
The Musée National du Bardo, created as a Museum of Prehistory and Indigenous Arts during the centenary celebrations of France's conquest of Algeria in 1930, has become one of the major cultural and scientific institutions of this North African country. Housed in an aristocratic eighteenth century holiday villa, a national monument since 1985, the archaeological and ethnographic collections were mainly founded during the colonial period when the museum was a research centre, publishing catalogues and putting on public display articles from Algeria and other Mediterranean countries. Today its scientific importance is embodied by the Ministry of Culture's Centre national de recherche préhistoriques, anthropologiques et historiques (National Centre for Prehistoric, Anthropological and Historical Research) which has been a base for Algerian and French researchers since the 1970's, publishing their research papers.
The Algerian television report gives a quick over-view of the collections, reminding us they prove the very early origins of homo sapiens in Algeria. Then there is an interview with the museum's director, Aisha Boukli (1947-2003), who created the museum's first computerized inventory. The commentary emphasizes the director's Parisian education and her election as head of the Algerian branch of the International Council of Museums, while the filmed panels show UNESCO conventions and recommendations. By linking Algerian national architectural heritage with prehistoric traces of human occupation and prestigious international bodies, the report tends to legitimize the museum's work in highlighting the heritage of local history and making it part of much wider, transnational collaborative networks. A very real tension between heritage and modernity means the report glorifies the historic value of the location, emphasising the beauty of the resort and elegant way of life, linking the work of the museum curators to current technological advances and the internationalization of cultural policies. Another way to claim and proclaim a place in the heritage field for the southern Mediterranean countries, between national pride, the practises of the colonial past and an appreciation of its cultural wealth.
Oubelsir N. 2006, Les usages du patrimoine. Monuments, musées et politique coloniale en Algérie. 1830-1930, Paris, Ed. de la MSH.
Collectif, 1952, Le Bardo. Musée d'ethnographie et de préhistoire d'Alger, Alger, Impr. Officielle.
Poulot D. 1997, Patrimoine et modernité, Paris, L’Harmattan.