The International Engineer

May 1st, 2023

My mom visited me in Grenoble and the two of us decided to visit some of the city’s museums. I was the more reluctant one, underestimating how developed and impressive the museums would be. In my mind, this was Grenoble and not Paris! But I was completely wrong, and some of the museums we visited in Grenoble turned out to be more interesting and fun than the ones I’ve seen in Paris.

My second-favorite museum (I’ll get to my favorite at the end) was the Musée de Grenoble. As someone who LOVES art, this museum was a treasure find. It featured ancient art from the 13th centuries to contemporary art. My favorite genre of art is Renaissance portraiture. And the museum did not disappointment. Room after room featured beautiful oil paintings done in the Renaissance style. There were also gigantic landscapes of Grenoble; so I was able to see how the city evolved before the time of photographs. Many of the paintings were originally hung in the Louvre before being moved to Grenoble.

To my surprise, the museum was free because I was under 26. In fact, the admission for all national museums is free for anyone under 26 in France. I found this really interesting. It signifies that the arts and cultural education is important here, especially for the young population. People want the youth of France to learn about their history and appreciate it. And while I would hope the same is true about America and American history, museums there cost money (even for youth). As a student I would pay $14 to enter MoMa. Which, if you think about it, could also buy me two meals at the Halal Cart. So in the US, students have the option of choosing another activity or way to spend their money over the museum.

And when you think about it even more, it makes perfect sense why the French emphasize learning about their roots. To them, the idea of “being French,” is central to their national identity. And alongside this identity one must know about their culture and speak good French. Linguistic identity matters equally if not more than cultural identity.

I was doing some reading and came across some of the culture shocks Americans express when coming to France. Some Americans make an attempt to speak good French and when they attempt to order something, speak well but forget an article or call a masculine object a feminine one. And often the response is the French person they’re speaking to will switch to English. And while that can be discouraging, I think I’m finally starting to understand why. Even a trivial mistake is a mistake nonetheless. And because speaking perfect French is important to French identity, a small mistake is not symbolically so small.

And finally, my favorite museum was the Musée archéologique Saint-Laurent. To get to it, we had to go to the Bastille. And again, I had lower expectations because it was a much smaller museum and even more under the radar compared to the Museum of Grenoble, But when we reached, I was immediately handed a little device that had inbuilt audio for each of the exhibits around the museum. And then walking inside, I discovered a gigantic necropolis completely hidden in the architecture of the Bastille. There were also many skeletons as part of the museum’s exhibitions and each skeleton had a description associated with it. Information about who the skeleton belong to, the person’s role during that time in history, details about their death, etc. As someone who is not even a native Grenoblois, I felt a connection to the region. It was a surreal experience to be immersed in such ancient and well-documented history. And even though the museum was 1/100th the size of many of the museums in the US, I felt like I learned 100 times more than I typically would from a day at the Met.

So main takeaway was never to underestimate again the richness of a French museum. Sometimes keeping an open mind is really the best and only way to explore a new place and its cultural history.