TJIBAOU CULTURAL CENTRE

This is THE visit not to be missed during your stay in New Caledonia. A masterpiece of the architect Renzo Piano, the Tjibaou Cultural Center is the result of the Agency for the Development of Kanak Culture (ACDK) founded following the Matignon Agreement. Inaugurated in 1998, this center aims to promote Melanesian culture.
Built on the very spot where the Melanesia 2000 festival was held in 1975 by Jean-Marie Tjibaou (the independence leader assassinated in 1989, in whose honor a statue erected on the heights of a hill overlooks the site), it celebrates France's recognition of the traditions and history of the Kanak people.
It was a long and arduous task for Renzo Piano, an internationally renowned architect (Osaka-Kansai airport, Georges Pompidou center), who undertook this ambitious project. It is a contemporary interpretation of the island's architectural heritage where the combination of steel and wood bridges modern and traditional styles.
The building, organized around a central alley flanked by columnar pines, links the ten large stylized huts that reflect the ten customary areas of New Caledonia.
The latter house numerous exhibition rooms evoking the culture, history and customs of the Kanak civilization, one of which is dedicated to the life of Jean-Marie Tjibaou.
The center also hosts various artistic events, temporary exhibitions, festivals, conferences and screenings. The Bérétara room honors contemporary Kanak and Oceanian art. The two media libraries (Ngan Vhalik for multimedia and Mwà Véé for books) have many interesting works on Melanesian and Oceanian cultures as well as many books on the theme of Kanak identity.
Outside, the Kanak Way, an initiatory plant walk that retraces in five stages (the origin of beings, the nourishing earth, the land of the ancestors, the land of the spirits and rebirth) the legend of the creation of the first man, the founding hero Téâ Kanaké, allows one to grasp the strength of the link with nature in Kanak society and the very great importance it gives to plants.
In this landscaped park, one discovers the symbolic vegetation of Melanesia, as well as the three traditional huts of the Mwakaa customary area, one for each of the New Caledonian provinces (North, South and the Loyalty Islands).
A dance show representing the creation myth is held every Tuesday at 2:30 pm in the gardens.