Migrations: Europe in a world on the move

This first cycle of exhibitions aims to put the arrival of large numbers of refugees in Europe in recent years into perspective by recontextualising this phenomenon within the long sweep of history.

The images from recent months and years showing refugees utterly destitute and in very large numbers—often entire families—trying to reach European Union countries to flee the war in Syria or Iraq have left a deep impression.

While the arrival, over a very short period, of more than a million refugees from regions outside the continent is entirely unprecedented in our contemporary history, it should not make us forget that European history was punctuated throughout the 20^th century by numerous population movements.

Initially a land of emigration, Europe gradually became a land of asylum for the oppressed from all over the world, but also a host region to meet its labour needs, and for populations displaced by wars and decolonisation.