Archiving the world - Albert Kahn: a life, a legacy

Albert Kahn on the balcony of his bank, Paris, 1914 (G. Chevalier, glass negative, I135X) © Musée Albert-Kahn/CD92

The Musée Albert-Kahn, closed since 2016 for renovation and extension work, reopened its doors in April 2022. This ambitious project aims to modernize and expand the museum's facilities, notably by rehabilitating the old building and adding a new wing to house temporary exhibitions and educational rooms. The museum houses a unique collection of photographs and films documenting the diversity of cultures around the world. A look back at the legacy of a formidable idealist.

In the name of peace

Albert Kahn's life was rich, eventful and complex. Born in 1860, he grew up in a Jewish family in Alsace, before moving to Paris to realize his dreams. He lived in tumultuous times, marked by wars and revolutions, yet maintained a profoundly optimistic and humanistic spirit. His entire life was devoted to others. A man of many talents, his activities as diverse as his passions - inventor, philanthropist, traveler, photographer, filmmaker - Albert Kahn was certainly a visionary.

He created a foundation that bears his name, dedicated to promoting peace and understanding between peoples: by understanding others, he believed, by communicating with their differences, they could no longer be seen as enemies. He had been traumatized by war. Thanks to the Albert Kahn Foundation, he was able to carry out numerous projects. The most famous of these is undoubtedly the creation of the "Archives de la Planète". This is a collection of photographs and films documenting life around the world at the beginning of the 20th century.

Thanks to his passion for photography, Albert Kahn traveled the world documenting different cultures and lifestyles. He also experimented with new photographic techniques, such as autochrome color photography. In the process, he created an incredibly rich and varied collection of images, which today are considered a national treasure.

Beyond his passion for photography and travel, Albert Kahn was a man deeply committed to the social and political issues of his time, supporting numerous educational and cultural projects around the world. He died in 1940, ruined by his various projects and a major financial crisis, leaving behind him an extraordinary legacy.

From garden to museum

One of his most spectacular achievements is probably the famous Albert-Kahn garden, a public park in Boulogne-Billancourt. Here, the lover of the world designed various themed gardens, inspired by different foreign landscapes and cultures. The garden was opened to the public in 1937, after years of work, and quickly became a popular attraction for Parisian visitors and foreign tourists alike. Unfortunately, the park was severely damaged during the Second World War, before being restored and redeveloped in the 1980s.

Today, the Albert Kahn garden is a 4-hectare green space, comprising several themed gardens, a pond, a greenhouse, a tea house, a museum and a collection of old photographs. Open to the public all year round, it is an oasis of calm and beauty in the Paris region. It is part of a colossal ensemble: the musée Albert Kahn.

The museum is the fruit of a long project to preserve and showcase the famous "Archives of the Planet". This heritage project has gone through several stages, from the opening of the first exhibition hall in 1986, to the inauguration of the museum in 2014, under the aegis of architect Renzo Piano.

It is a place of discovery, research, contemplation and wonder. Its permanent and temporary exhibitions, archive collections, specialized library, research and education programs ensure that the enthusiasm and creative spirit of our philanthropist live on. The Musée Albert-Kahn invites visitors on a journey through time and around the world, discovering history and culture through the sights and sounds of the past. The Musée Albert-Kahn is a true ode to diversity.

A few final words

The Albert Kahn project and the Akteos company share a common ambition: to foster understanding and dialogue between cultures. They share common values such as empathy, curiosity and tolerance. Both have adopted a documented approach to better understand cultural evolutions and dynamics. Their common goal is precisely this quest for dialogue and understanding between cultures.

How, finally, can we fail to be inspired by this desire to archive the world? We archive to keep track, to preserve, to remember. While the specificities of different countries and cultures obviously remain, we are well aware that, in the age of globalization and connectivity, the world is also tending, to a certain extent, towards standardization. As a result, cultural specificities can become blurred. Fortunately, differences remain. But in talking about archiving, Kahn probably had the intuition to touch on something as beautiful as it is fragile.