L'histoire du fort Saint-Jean

The Alexandria lighthouse, one of the seven wonders of the world

Curator: Zeev Gourarier
Exhibition layout: Studio Adeline Rispal

The duration of the exhibitions will be generally from three to five years, with the most fragile pieces being exhibited in rotation for brief periods of three to six months.

The Mediterranean, though it has never been a homogenous political entity, is nevertheless a basin of specific civilisations, organised around singularities.

Birth of the Gods and the Invention of Agriculture
For ten thousand years, men have been domesticating nature. In the Mediterranean, they began to cultivate wheat and raise sheep, donkeys, cattle… From the animistic worlds of prehistory followed the polytheism of antiquity. The Mediterranean landscape was altered, transforming the flora, even modifying the fauna. This landscape though poorly suited for agriculture drove people to multiply their strategies for utilising space and maximising their harvest. From nature to the table, the Mediterranean people have adopted, over the last ten thousand years, a dietary balance that is today listed on the UNESCO World Heritage register. From the traditional Egyptian sakieh to the contemporary work of an Israeli artist on the distribution of water, all of the media and material tell the stories of agricultures, from their fragility to their mutations today.

A Holy City, Three Revelations
Jerusalem is the place where the monotheisms meet. The City of David, it became the unique religious centre for the Hebrew people who settled there. It is also the site of the Passion, Resurrection and Ascension of Christ. It is as well where the Prophet Mohammed made his Night Journey. The fundamental role of the thrice holy city will be particularly illustrated by an exceptional model inlayed with mother-of-pearl representing the Church of the Holy Sepulchre, the delicate “paintings under glass” evoking the Night Journey of the Prophet carried by Buraq, and the Hanukkah lights. Productions of contemporary artists inspired by the light are also represented, such as the windows of Aurélie Nemours or the ecumenical work of Michelangelo Pistoletto.

The Invention of the Citizen and the Development of Democracy
Born in the Mediterranean, citizenship and democracy develop from values that concern the universal. From the Athenian citizen to the Tunisian blogger, from the merchants of the Italian Republics (Genoa, Venice…) to the Communard of Barcelona, this section will be illustrated by exceptional portraits in marble from the Roman era (from Palmyra) and by the refined 16th century paintings of the Venetian Doge among others. The MuCEM must testify to the advances and setbacks of democracy in the Mediterranean, question the respect for the rights of children, freedom of expression or access to education.

Discoveries
Since Antiquity, explorers, pilgrims, and travellers have made the Mediterranean of the seven wonders the destination of all their voyages it was also the point of departure for the major discoveries that have linked the oceans, thereby reducing the imaginary space from the infinite to an inland sea. These long travels are answered by voyages towards the places of memory (pilgrimages), of knowledge and education (the Grand Tour), of wonder and leisure. Veduta, optical prints and contemporary installations, evoke, between the sky and water, the highlights of the Mediterranean. And to finish this journey through time and space, a monumental work especially in porcelain, of Anne and Patrick Poirier, evoking the seven wonders of the world.

These four chapters are not intended to be exhaustive, but rather to progressively illuminate a history of the Mediterranean.

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