Paris terror attacks boost Musée de l'Immigration attendance while other museums decline

Following the November 2015 Paris terror attacks and subsequent violence, the city's major museums saw significant visitor drops in 2016: the Louvre fell 15%, Musée d'Orsay 13%, and the Palace of Versailles also declined. In contrast, the Musée National de l'Histoire de l'Immigration gained about 200,000 visitors. Director Benjamin Stora, himself of Italian immigrant descent, attributed this to a public desire to understand the roots of the violence, much of which involved descendants of immigrants from former North African colonies. The museum, housed in the Palais de la Porte Dorée built for the 1931 Colonial Exposition, documents immigration from the 19th century to the present. Its permanent collection includes photographs, documents, and personal objects donated by immigrants and their descendants. Recent acquisitions include Barthélémy Toguo's sculpture 'Permesso di soggiorno' made of four large wooden stamps. A temporary exhibition, 'Ciao Italia! Un siècle d'immigration et de culture italiennes en France (1860-1960),' runs until September 10, 2017, featuring works by Giovanni Boldini, Angiolo Tommasi, Giuseppe de Nittis, Gino Severini, and Renato Paresce, alongside photographs and documents. The museum opened in 2007 under President Sarkozy with little fanfare. Stora emphasized the museum's educational role in preparing future generations by explaining shared origins.