Tunisian pavilion in Paris

A Tunisian pavilion in the Bois de Vincennes is a legacy of the Paris Colonial Exhibition of 1907. Now the colonial heirloom has been converted for an institution dedicated to development work.

Colonial and ethnological exhibitions were a typical phenomenon of European imperialism. Artifacts, architecture and products, mostly from the respective colonial territories of a European state, were exhibited there. It was not uncommon for members of colonized ethnic groups to present excerpts of their own culture to the public. This type of display seems both strange and offensive to us today, but instead enjoyed great popularity in the period up to the Second World War.

In 1907, the Société Française de Colonisation organized such a colonial exhibition in the Bois de Vincennes in Paris, including a Tunisian pavilion. The society had already founded the “Garden of Tropical Agriculture” there in 1899. The aim of the exhibition was to introduce the public to the diversity of the French colonies. Pavilions and “villages” were dedicated to the most important colonial regions and imitated their architecture. Actors recruited from the respective countries “enlivened” the scenery.

After the end of the exhibition, life returned to the pavilions. During the First World War, the buildings served as a military hospital for French soldiers from the colonies. A memorial in the garden still commemorates the fallen from the French colonial empire. After the military hospital was closed, the garden gradually fell into a deep sleep. The buildings erected for the colonial exhibition gradually fell into disrepair.

In 2003, the city of Paris took over the site from the French state and reopened the Tunisian pavilion to the public. Unlike the much larger colonial exhibition, which was held on the other side of the Bois de Vincennes in 1931, most of the pavilions have been preserved to this day. They are a remarkable testimony to European colonialism. Now the architecture firm Atelier Aconcept from Évry-Courcouronnes has restored and extended the Tunisian pavilion from the 1907 colonial exhibition.

The Tunisian pavilion consists of an original central building on a square floor plan. Each of its four sides is adjoined by a wing building. These are three longitudinal rectangular wings and a short extension. The latter has less than half the floor area of the other three annexes. It has now been extended to the dimensions of the three large wings as part of the construction work.

The now gleaming white building is a hybrid of European exhibition architecture and Tunisian set pieces. In addition to the ornamented tiles applied to the façade, the small, windowed dome crowning the central building is a reference to the Islamic architectural tradition. In contrast, Atelier Aconcept’s design clearly sets the new extension apart. They have created a glass gap between the existing building and the extension. Meanwhile, a wooden trellis on the extension itself shades the large window openings.

Inside, the pavilion houses a new restaurant and offices as well as a multi-purpose room along with the necessary ancillary rooms. The Tunisian pavilion is now used by the “International Center for Agricultural Research for Development Cooperation”, which is located next to the Garden of Tropical Agriculture. This institution, which was founded in 1984, aims to continue the exchange on agricultural issues with the global South without the premonitions of colonialism.

Also in a light tone and in Paris: architect Jean-Christophe Quinton has built a residential building with an elaborately designed sandstone façade. More about this social housing in the city of Paris here.