The Musée du Quai Branly – Jacques Chirac (French pronunciation: [myze dy ke bʁɑ̃li ʒak ʃiʁak]; English: Jacques Chirac Museum of Branly Quay), located in Paris, France, is a museum designed by French architect Jean Nouvel to feature the indigenous art and cultures of Africa, Asia, Oceania, and the Americas.

The Musée du quai Branly is located in the 7th arrondissement of Paris, on the left bank of the Seine, close to the Eiffel Tower and the Pont de l'Alma.

A proposal for such a museum had been made by the ethnologist and art collector Jacques Kerchache in a 1990 manifesto in the newspaper Libération, called "The masterpieces of the entire world are born free and equal."

[2] In addition to these existing collections, gathered by French explorers and ethnologists from around the world, the directors of the new museum acquired ten thousand objects.

The issue was resolved by a decree by President Chirac and the government of Prime Minister Lionel Jospin on 29 July 1998, to construct an entirely new museum at 29–55 quai Branly on the banks of the Seine not far from the Eiffel Tower in the 7th arrondissement of Paris.

[2] The site selected for the new museum, covering an area of 25,000 square meters, was occupied by a collection of buildings belonging to the Ministry of Reconstruction and Urbanism.

The competition was won by French architect Jean Nouvel, whose other major works included the Institute of the Arab World (1970), and Fondation Cartier (1991–94) in Paris, the renovation of the Lyon Opera (1986–93), the Palais de Justice in Nantes, and the Parc Poble Nou in Barcelona (2001).

[2] In an attempt to create "an original venue that would do justice to the infinite diversity of cultures",[This quote needs a citation] the museum is designed in a way that that is supposed to feel open and inclusive.

Nouvel designed the interior of the museum in such a way as to liberate artifacts from their Western architectural references by not including barriers and railings in the gallery spaces.

The museum also has thematic exhibits featuring masks and tapa cloth from Oceania, costumes from Asia, and musical instruments and textiles from Africa.

[14] Nevertheless, the international discussion about restitution of looted cultural heritage has been given new momentum by the report, and major museums and other collections not only in France have intensified their cooperation with African institutions and art historians.

The main gallery is relatively dark inside, with a small amount of sunlight entering from outside, and with direct lighting only on the exhibited objects from the permanent collection.

They were designed by landscape architect Gilles Clément, and present the exact opposite of a traditional French formal garden: There are no fences, no lawn, no gates, no monumental stairway; instead, Clément composed a tapestry of small gardens, with streams, hills, pools, and groves, using the native French plants and imported plants accustomed to the Paris climate.

[22] The museum has a library with 3 main departments: Many of the specialized scientific journals, data bases, documents, visual or audiovisual objects can be accessed online.

[23] Moreover, the library also holds collections from important ethnologists, including Georges Condominas, Françoise Girard, and Nesterenko, as well as that of art collector Jacques Kerchache.

Michael Kimmelman, architecture critic of The New York Times, published a review on 2 July 2006 entitled "Heart of Darkness in the City of Light".

He called the museum "a missed opportunity and an inexplicable exercise" and said it was "devised as a spooky jungle, red and black and murky, the objects in it chosen and arranged with hardly any discernible logic.

Since 2003, the Te Papa Tongarewa, New Zealand's national museum, has embarked on a program of requesting the return of Maori remains held in institutions around the world.

At the time the museum opened in 2007, France was still attempting to reconcile increasing ethnic diversity among the nation's population within its republican model of assimilation, and even homogeneity.

"[4] In 2024, the Parliament of the Central Tibetan Administration criticized the museum for removing the word "Tibet" from its catalogues and exhibitions in favor of the Chinese government term "Xizang Autonomous Region.