oh là là: a new french history museum?

i was skimming the times website the other day and i found this article about a new museum that french president nicolas sarkozy is planning to open. first, a bit of history:

about french presidents

they like to memorialize their presidencies by having national monuments built (and named after themselves) while in office. this sounds like i am generalizing/stereotyping, but it's just their way.

georges pompidou has the centre pompidou, an incredibly cool modern and contemporary art museum:

françois mitterrand has the national library:

and jacques chirac has the quai branly, a controversial museum of indigenous art from africa, asia, oceania, and the americas:

about sarkozy

the 9 months that i lived in france fell within the first year and a half of sarkozy's election, and were peppered with student, government worker, and transportation strikes, in response to reforms he tried to implement and as a result of general disgust with his person. in a way, sarkozy is much more american than french -- always pushing for productivity, unafraid of privatization, and unapologetic about his own blinged-out lifestyle. from what i saw and heard, the french population over 35 seems pretty split about how good he is for france, but the french youth? they hate him with a passion.

about the new museum

one reason why sarkozy is so unpopular among french youth is that he is anti-immigration and, well, downright racist (this is ironic, as one of his parents was a polish immigrant). which bring us to his proposed legacy: a museum of french history. while in theory there is nothing wrong with this, rest assured that sarkozy's take on french history will glorify all the usual suspects (ahem, napoleon), and gloss right over the travesties bestowed by france on places like algeria. the problem with history is that it's always told by the victors. this museum would be just one more slap in the face from a narcissistic power monger to the neglected and abused, though culture-rich, immigrant populations in france. normally, i'm all for new museums, but imagining walking through this one makes me feel nothing short of disgust.