Paris - Musée National des Arts Africains et Océanians

The Museum of African and Oceanian Art, at the west entrance to the Bois de Vincennes in Paris, was built by Albert Laprade on the occasion of the Colonial Exhibition of 1931, "La France d'Outre-mer", on the initiative of Marshal Lyautey, the great French colonial administrator. The golden figure of Minerva (symbolizing France in its civilizing role) which stood at the entrance to the Nuseum is now in Place de la Porte-Dorée. The museum building, in neo-classical style, has a portico and a monumental bas-relief (by Alfred Janniot) on the facade depicting the contributions made by France's overseas colonies to the motherland and to civilization.