Jean Nouvel's Musée du Quai Branly Opens in Paris

Jean Nouvel, one of the most important living architects, has completed the Musée du Quai Branly in Paris, which opened in June 2006. The museum houses a collection of some 300,000 objects from the arts and civilizations of Africa, Asia, Oceania, and the Americas. Nouvel describes the building as "inhabited, unique and strange, poetic and disturbing." The project includes a vast garden designed by Gilles Clément. This period marks one of the most active phases of Nouvel's career, with his work now widely recognized on the international stage.