The Quai Branly Museum close to our hotels invites you on a trip to Haiti to explore the myth of the zombie, something that is widely seen in modern films and series but has its roots in the voodoo beliefs and slavery of the 16th century.

Forget the image of the drooling undead, dragging their decomposing remains towards you to eat your brains, and get ready to learn all about how zombies came to be (so to speak) in this new exhibition at the Quai Branly Museum!

Taking a word of African origin (nzambi) and mixing traditional Africa, catholic and Caribbean beliefs, the myth of zombies seems to be present everywhere now, deeply ingrained in society.

The exhibition will show you the complex origins of this myth, taking a look, for example, at a Haitian ceremony during which a criminal would be judged, condemned, drugged and buried alive before being dug back to become their master’s slave. 🧟‍♂️

These practices involving the “non-dead”, somewhere between fact and fiction, will be illustrated in the exhibition by reconstruction of an army of Bizango warriors and a Voodoo cemetery and temple!

The exhibition also explores how zombies have become so popular, from 1690 and their first apparition in European literature to films like World War Z, by way of songs like Michael Jackson’s Thriller.

Eight stories of 20th century zombies will also be explored, including that of Felicia Felix-Mentor who died in 1907 in Haiti, only to be photographed ‘alive’ in 1937 by the American anthropologist Zora Neale Hurston!

From secret societies to witchcraft, you’ll soon be a zombie expert!

Linked with the exhibition, which just happens to coincide with Halloween, there are:

— guided visit, one of which is for families and includes storytelling,

— showing of several zombie films from 31st October – 3rd November (Night of the Living Dead, The Serpent and the Rainbow…),

— Bese Trye by Erol Josué, a one-hour musical theatre show, on 2nd February at 5pm,

— a special late night Zombis pop evening on 31st October, with DJs, horros makeup tutorials, a talk about sombies and video games, a bar, a photo studio, a zombie-themed musical quiz…

A catalogue of the exhibition (216 pages, 36€) is also available here from your local amazon.

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The exhibition Zombies – Death is not the end? is at the Quai Branly Museum (here) until 16th February 2025

Open every day except Monday from 10.30am-7pm (10pm Thursdays)

Admission: 14€ / 11€

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Une publication partagée par musée du quai Branly (@quaibranly)