The National Museum Foundation of Morocco (FNM) has ten! A decade of existence rich in achievements and its action in the service of culture and museum influence, a record of which the FNM can be proud, welcomed the President of the Foundation, Mehdi Qotbi.
Speaking at a press conference on Tuesday in Rabat, on the occasion of the ten years of the FNM, Qotbi presented e bila of a decade marked by the opening of many museums and the organization of major exhibitions national and international artists.
The date of June 8, 2021 marks a “major turning point” for the Foundation and paves the way for “a new era, firmly anchored in our contemporary era with all the changes that accompany it”, he said in front of an audience. Moroccan personalities, including the bosses of RAM and CDG, and the ambassadors of France and Italy, as well as diplomats.
Since its creation, he continued, the FNM has insisted on three values which guide its actions: sharing, transmission and passion ”.
Welcoming the support that King Mohammed VI continues to bring to art and artists, Mehdi Qotbi recalled that several flagship events organized by the FNM could not have succeeded without this royal support.
“Picasso, Giacometti, César, Goya, Cézanne, Van Gogh, Monet, Sisley, Renoir, Matisse… Who would have thought one day that these great names in painting and art would stop over in Morocco, here, between these walls? Such unprecedented exhibitions on the African continent but also in the Arab world could not have been carried out without the dynamic impelled by His Majesty King Mohammed VI for culture ”, he argued.
Stressing that despite the pandemic “which was trying on all levels and which has strongly impacted the cultural sector, at the National Museum Foundation, we have intensified our efforts so that it is more than ever present in the lives of Moroccans and that ‘it accompanies their daily lives with colors, softness and messages of hope ”, Qotbi had this last word:,“ Culture is essential and vital to our society. It is not a luxury but a necessity ”.
For his part, the Director of the Mohammed VI Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art (MMVI), Abdelaziz El Idrissi, noted that several museum restoration and redevelopment projects have been launched, a good part of which is now operational.
He cited in this regard the MMVI, the Kasbah museum of Mediterranean cultures in Tangier, the history and civilizations museum in Rabat, the Dar El Bacha confluence museum in Marrakech, the national ceramics museum in Safi, the Dar Si Said national weaving and carpet museum in Marrakech, the photography museum in Rabat and the Villa Harris museum in Tangier.
Other museum structures, he added, will be operational by the end of the year, such as the Dar Jamai museum in Meknes, the Borj Belkari museum in Meknes, the Bab el-Okla museum in Tetouan, the Museum of Jamaa El Fna Square in Marrakech, the Oudayas Museum in Rabat or the Museum of Islamic Arts in Batha in Fez.
After recalling that 21 major exhibitions have been organized since the establishment of the FNM, Abdelaziz El Idrissi specified that these exhibitions relate to three axes, namely the opening on the Mediterranean, the opening on Africa and the artistic specificity of the Moroccan scene, recalling that the democratization of culture and the promotion of cultural heritage are among the Foundation’s objective bonuses.
In an address read on his behalf, the Secretary General of the Government, Mr. Mohamed Hajoui, said he was honored to contribute to the celebration of the 10 years of the FNM, by emphasizing his contribution to the influence of museum culture in the Kingdom, through the enrichment of the national cultural scene.
Note that during this meeting, a partnership agreement was signed between the FNM and the Moroccan National Tourist Office (ONMT) in order to promote tourism and the sharing of the rich heritage of the Kingdom.
On the occasion of this decade of existence, the FNM unveiled its new visual identity.
Photos Mounir Mehimdate
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