With its ‘Paradis Naturiste’ exhibition in full swing, the Museum of Civilisations of Europe and the Mediterranean in Marseille has made the bold announcement that, once a month, visitors are free to explore the display and wander its halls in the nude. There’s only one rule: you must wear shoes.
On 3rd September and again on 11th October, the Museum of Civilisations of Europe and the Mediterranean (MUCEM) in Marseille will be opening its doors to visitors in the buff.
This isn’t a random decision—although it’s certainly a striking one—as the MUCEM is currently hosting the ‘Paradis Naturiste’ exhibition, a celebration and exploration of the history of naturism in Europe.
Held in collaboration with the French Naturist Federation (FFN), the au naturel experiences will add an immersive element to the exhibition for nudists. The only request made by the museum is that visitors wear shoes in order to “avoid getting splinters”, according to FFN chief Eric Stefanut.
The nudie visits will take place during times when the museum would normally be closed so as not to shock anyone with more delicate sensibilities, as well as to provide respectful privacy to those choosing to wander the exhibit naked. The most recent evening attracted upwards of 80 people.
ARCHIVAL PHOTOS AND MORE
The show itself is a tribute to the naturist movement, the roots of which go back to 19th-century Switzerland and Germany. France jumped on the bandwagon in the 1930s. Marseille has long been known as the epicentre of the French naturist movement, so the museum’s exhibition is an innate extension.
It features 600 archival photos, films, paintings, sculptures and other artwork from public and private collections, including loans from Paris’s Centre Pompidou, the Louvre and the Bibliothèque Nationale de France, as well as a black-and-white portrait of Christine Lecocq, one of the first known French women to embrace the lifestyle. She lived until the age of 103.
“France is the world’s leading tourist destination for naturists: its temperate climate and the presence of three seas have facilitated the establishment of communities, which—with the exception of Switzerland—have few real equivalents elsewhere in Europe, where naturism is practised more freely, outside established communities,” says a representative for the MUCEM. “In recent years, a new craze for nudity in nature has arisen, going hand in hand with the search for healthy, vegetarian diets and the use of natural therapies, meditation and yoga in the open air. These lifestyles, along with the rejection of the diktats that so weigh down our bodies, are all keys to understanding the issues at stake in the naturism of yesterday and today.”
While nudity is not a requirement at the once-a-month events, it is expected, with a museum spokesperson saying, “Anyone wanting to visit fully dressed during those hours might be considered a little odd.”
For those who prefer to keep their shirts—and trousers—on, the exhibition is fully accessible to the public during usual opening hours until 9th December.
To read more about the ‘Paradis Naturiste’ exhibition, click here.
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Photo source: MUCEM, Facebook