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Journal of Undergraduate Research

Keywords

public space, Musée d’Orsay, Modern Louvre, politics, culture

College

Humanities

Department

French and Italian

Abstract

For this project, I wrote an honors thesis examining how museum space—understood as a form of public space—has been shaped by the forces of politics, culture, and public space theories. Two museums in particular, the Musée d’Orsay and the Musée du Louvre, served as case studies and as sources for comparison and contrast. My examination focused on the time from 1980 to present, as these years reflect a significant era of birth and change for both museums. As an additional contrast, I examined the impact of the same shaping forces listed above—politics, culture, and public space theories—on a museum yet to open: La Cité de l’Architecture et du Patrimoine. By exploring the continuing history of the Cité, I sought to discover whether similar shaping factors had influenced a museum that is evolving under disparate political circumstances.

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