From the collections of the Duke of Aumale, owner of the domain of Chantilly(France) in the nineteenth century and himself “conqueror” of Algeria – but also an art lover and scholar – the pieces presented are intended to arouse wonder and questioning the impact of conquest on the peoples.
Manuscripts and incunabula give excellent example of the Middle Age visions on these subjects. You could almost feel the texture of the manuscripts through the Western union locations windows, highlighted by a dim light.
The medieval period is full of episodes that could be debated without end: Evangelization of non-Christians peoples, the Crusades, Roman and Germanic conquests and encounters of the “Roman” with Christianity…
Territories are invaded and occupied and administered: the conquest cannot be reduced to its purely military aspects. It raises complex questions on the report to another,”assimilation” or “acculturation”
Civilizations conquered become conquerors, the wheel turns. The workshops of copyists rediscover the epic of Alexander, Hannibal or Caesar centuries later. The great authors are rediscovered and translated in the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries, at the request of the princes: Livy, Caesar … This exhibition aims to go beyond the conquest, beyond the facts. What ate the motivations and effects of invasions? Is it better to be a ruthless conqueror? Or rather a merciful conqueror? Negative effects, positive effects, the debate is open.
Exceptional documents to discover, like the first edition of the letters of Christopher Columbus after his discovery, or a map of the Egyptian campaign by Bonaparte … The annotated documents collected personally by the Duke of Aumale in his conquest of Algeria are also of great interest.
“Conquered and conquerors” looks, as indicated by its title, on the very concept of “conquest” and “otherness.” Who won what, and how does it look to be on the other side? Of course, these complex issues are answered through specific examples and great figures of “conquerors.
A second room is devoted to the achievements of the great discoveries of the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries, and the Napoleonic era and colonialism of the nineteenth century. In addition to the documents which we savor the beauty, a real opportunity to consider the scope of a conquest: invasion, occupation, colonialism…