Greater cooperation for museums and culture in favour of heritage and living together in harmony

The Atchan Djidji Ayôkwé drum was officially restituted to Côte d’Ivoire in February 2026. This event of great significance in terms of heritage and diplomacy is the culmination of an exemplary partnership dynamic between France and Côte d’Ivoire. Expertise France played a decisive role in transforming this historic restitution into a well-laid programme.

The initial focus was the rehabilitation of the exhibition building of the Musée des Civilisations de Côte d’Ivoire, as well as the design and installation of an ambitious set to house the upcoming national exhibition.

Expertise France also coordinated significant science- and remembrance-related work involving academics and representatives of the community from which the drum originated, in order to better record its history, journey, and symbolic significance.

And the story does not end here, for this restitution heralds a new phase of cooperation. It has strengthened dialogue between Ivorian and French heritage institutions, including the French Institute of Cultural Heritage (INP), the École du Louvre and La Villette. A 700-hour training programme has been co-designed for Ivorian curators. 

These training initiatives have empowered the launch of a nationwide collections project, contributed to reorganising reserves for several Ivorian museums and helped to develop new approaches to mediation catering to young people, using digital applications for example. Museum staff have been trained in 3D scanning and the necessary equipment has been provided, to better secure the collections, facilitate scientific discussion and put forward new mediation formats, especially for itinerant exhibitions, using virtual reality and 3D modelling. As of today, 45 works have been digitally reproduced in 3D and several hundred have been photographed for documentary and editing purposes.

This project has drawn on the talents of French businesses, in particular Summum 3D for digitisation, and Les Crayons and Matières à Penser for the design, production and setup of the set.

Lastly, the drive to consult young people, designed as a mechanism to empower citizen participation, will encourage the emergence of proposals for heritage policy, to help new generations better appropriate their heritage and find inspiration for new creations. 

In the spirit of the Heritage 3000 project to rehabilitate the Carthage National Museum on the outskirts of Tunis, a new project to restore and redecorate the Casino Hammam-Lif started in December 2025. This monument is a national treasure in Moorish Revival style, central to Tunisian heritage dating from the Ben Arous Governorate. Listed as a national monument since 2000, this 1,059.25-sq.m edifice features two storeys around a central patio, topped by a dome.

This large-scale project is governed by an innovative concession mechanism, steered by the IGPPP (a Tunisian agency overseeing public-private partnerships). It is being conducted in close collaboration with the Tunisian Institute of Cultural Heritage (INP) and the Ministry of State-owned Property and Land Affairs, with support from Expertise France.

A group of design studios including the Tunisian firms Arké Architecture and ZM Architecture conducted the technical and architectural studies, of importance when defining the nature of the intervention true to the spirit of the building. The INP has given its seal of approval, thus ensuring an appropriate approach to heritage.

The EU-funded restoration work, worth 2.3 million euros, has been entrusted to the Tunisian firms BIRC and ENIBTP. 

Looking beyond the physical restoration, the project aims to restore the Casino d’Hammam-Lif’s vocation to serve the nation. Once the restoration work has been completed, it will become the venue for a rich schedule of cultural, social and tourist-related events, as the means to develop Hammam-Lif and uplift its economic, social and cultural force.

Expertise France has been working since January 2025 to support the Guinean Ministry of Culture and Crafts, reinforcing practices in terms of conservation, restoration, documentation and promotion of heritage and introducing innovative approaches, especially digital, with backing from the French Ministry for Europe and Foreign Affairs (MEAE).

For example, the Musée Virtuel de Guinée (Online Museum of Guinea) project aims to improve the preservation and showcasing of the nation’s tangible and intangible heritage, drawing on digital as a means to transmission, creation and diffusion. The project thus improves access to Guinean culture nationwide, in particular for young people, students and teachers, as well as ensuring that this heritage is included the dynamics of international circulation, catering to academics, the art world and the diaspora.

Looking beyond the digitisation of collections, the project harnesses an integrated approach geared around the National Museum of Guinea’s collections (inventory, conservation and documentation), 2D and 3D digitisation campaigns, producing audiovisual content on intangible heritage and developing a digital platform showcasing objects, accounts, sounds and images.

The project is ground-breaking in that it focusses firmly on usages, developing schemes adapted to local context and especially catering to young people.

This participatory, inclusive approach aims to reflect the diversity of Guinean culture and to encourage community involvement in content production and transmission.

A section on creation and innovation helps to produce new narratives and mediation formats. It includes an incubation scheme involving young Guinean artists, in partnership with Le Centquatre-Paris and Les Studios Kirah in Conakry. In the same dynamic, an international artistic residency is also being set up in Conakry, empowering research and creation based on Guinean collections and heritage. This residency aims to support artists developing projects that tap into heritage, contemporary creation and digital, working closely with museum staff and local communities.

The project enjoys support from partners in the worlds of culture and science including the Musée du quai Branly, the Bibliothèque nationale de France and other prestigious institutions. It opens up perspectives for collaboration, the circulation of works and international distribution of artistic production.

Further to its support for the Musée Virtuel de Guinée, Expertise France will be deploying technical assistance to extend and renovate the National Museum in Guinea as from 2026. This project will receive 16 billion euros in funding from AFD.