Paris welcomes foreign museum-memorial directors dedicated to terrorism

On 17 and 18 February 2026, the mission to prefigur the Museum-Memorial of Terrorism (MMT) brought together in Paris the directors of the Museum of 11-September in New York (USA), the Centre of 22 July in Oslo (Norway), the Oklahoma City National Memorial & Museum (USA) and the Centre for the Memory of Victims of Terrorism in Vitoria-Gasteiz (Spain), as well as French associations of victims. These two days have alternated immersion in Parisian places of memory and in-depth exchanges on the fundamental issues of our institutions.

an immersion in Parisian memory

The first day allowed delegations to discover the Lourcine barracks, the future site of the MMT, then the Memorial of the Martyrs of the Deportation and the Garden of Memory, in the presence of Arthur Dénouvelles, president of the Life for Paris association.

three experiences, a common challenge: building with victims

The second day shared the experiences of each institution on the involvement of victims in these projects. Cliff Chanin, director of the museum of 11 September in New York (opened in 2014) recalled the need to build confidence in the duration to address sensitive issues such as the representation of Osama Bin Laden in the exhibition. Lena Fahre, director of the Centre on 22 July in Oslo, described the leading role of the support group (now more than 1,800 members) in the creation of the Centre, while highlighting the current generational challenges, as Norway prepares to commemorate the 15 years of these attacks. Raúl López Romo, pedagogic head of the Centre for the Memory of Victims of Terrorism in Vitoria-Gasteiz summarized the Spanish philosophy in one formula: "the museum works with victims, but not for victims", through regular meetings, co-produced educational programmes and co-designed exhibitions.

The discussions also focused on the place of terrorism in school curricula, the evolution of museum discourse in the face of the passage of time, and the psychological accompaniment of visitors - challenges shared by all the institutions represented.

exchange of objects to weave the network

The meeting also focused on loans and deposits of artifacts between the various museums. For the first time, it has enabled the loan of a piece from MMT's collections at the Centre on 22 July in preparation for its next temporary exhibition: Norwegian dress produced by students of a vocational school in France to pay tribute to the victims of the attacks of 22 July 2011 in Oslo and Utoya. Mr. Raul Lopez Romo also handed over several items related to Basque terrorism from the Vitoria-Gasteiz Memory Centre collections to MMT teams. These exchanges illustrate in concrete terms the international dimension of the project and the desire to build a shared memory through the collections.

Elisabeth Pelsez, Director-General of the MMT's foresight mission, stressed the importance of this cooperation between institutions which, despite their cultural differences, share deeply similar challenges. These meetings are part of the progressive construction of an international network whose Museum-memorial of terrorism aims to become an essential link.