The Musée Guimet, a Paris museum known for its rich collection of Asian art, is facing a lawsuit from several groups who accused the institution of trying to “erase the existence of Tibet.”
According to the Agence France-Presse, which first reported news of the complaint last week, the suit centers around a gallery devoted to art from Nepal and Tibet. The museum now notes that the gallery focuses on the “Himalayan world,” not Nepal and Tibet specifically, according to the AFP.
Doing so, the groups said, could create “confusion about Tibet’s cultural distinctiveness with the political aim of erasing Tibet’s existence.” The suit also addressed other instances of alleged efforts to strip texts of references to “Tibetan art.”
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The AFP said the suit was filed by what the press agency identified was four “pro-Tibetan groups,” without identifying which groups those were. The article quoted their lawyers, who told the AFP that it was “hard not to see a political undertone and a deliberate choice by Guimet to align itself with Chinese lobbying efforts,” a reference to China’s classification of Tibet as one of its autonomous regions.
The Musée Guimet told the AFP that it did not seek to “render a culture invisible, let alone deny Tibetan identity.” Moreover, the museum said that using the phrase “Himalayan world” was an effort to “highlight the richness of cultural interactions across this vast and complex region.”
It’s not the first time the Musée Guimet has received pushback over the way it has discussed Tibet in its materials. Last year, more than 140 organizations signed an open letter that said the museum “risks endorsing China’s colonisation of Tibet and the systematic erasure of its culture and heritage.”
