A museum in southern French city Marseille is inviting visitors to discover Europe’s relationship to the naturist lifestyle by wandering its halls in the nude.
“It’s not every day you get to walk around a museum naked,” said Julie Guegnolle, 38, who was celebrating her birthday at the “Naturist Paradises” exhibition in the Museum of Civilizations of Europe and the Mediterranean (Mucem).
Once a month, visitors to Mucem can explore the history of naturism in Europe in only their shoes — a precaution not for modesty’s sake but simply to “avoid getting splinters,” said Eric Stefanut, head of French naturist organization FFN.
Photo: AFP
Walking around the displays clad in a sarong, Guegnolle said she wanted to “do something different” for her birthday.
She and her husband, Matthieu, were among 80 visitors in various states of undress strolling around the 600 photos, paintings, sculptures and other works one Tuesday this month.
“When we arrived, we felt a bit lost, but it’s not so strange,” Guegnolle said.
Some visitors had more culture shock than others, with a couple from England marveling at the liberated attitudes toward nudity.
Kieren Parker-Hall and Xander Parry said they enjoyed the “fantastic” photography, including a nude black-and-white portrait of Christiane Lecocq — a female pioneer of French naturism who died at the age of 103.
Discovering the history of naturism while in the nude was a “once-in-a-lifetime opportunity” for the two Brits, especially since they said the practice is not widely accepted in their home country.
“There’s not a lot of naturist stuff in England,” Web developer Parker-Hall, 28, said, adding that the practice is “not really accepted.”
Parry, a 30-year-old stained glass maker, agreed.
Being naked in England is seen as “weird... you should be a bit ashamed of being naked,” Parry said.
Though there is no official ranking, Mucem describes France as “the world’s leading tourist destination” for those who enjoy going nude outdoors.
The naturist movement sprang up in Switzerland and Germany in the 19th century, said Bruno Saurez, head of the local naturist association and cohost of the visit.
France’s first naturist group emerged in the southeastern Provence in 1930 before spreading throughout the country, he said.
Marseille, long considered a “stronghold of naturism” boasts several dedicated centers due, in part, to the region’s mild climate, he added.
“We’re right on Spain’s heels for the number of visitors to vacation resorts” dedicated to naturists, he said.
However, for Christelle Bouyoud, 53, naturism goes further than tourist numbers or the freedom to bare it all — the decision to go nude can be a unifying force for society.
“When you’re naked, it’s very complicated to face someone on the battlefield,” Bouyard said.
For the fully clothed and the naked alike, the exposition featuring loans from the Centre Pompidou in Paris, the Louvre, and the Swiss National Library in Bern is open until Dec. 9.
A fire caused by a burst gas pipe yesterday spread to several homes and sent a fireball soaring into the sky outside Malaysia’s largest city, injuring more than 100 people. The towering inferno near a gas station in Putra Heights outside Kuala Lumpur was visible for kilometers and lasted for several hours. It happened during a public holiday as Muslims, who are the majority in Malaysia, celebrate the second day of Eid al-Fitr. National oil company Petronas said the fire started at one of its gas pipelines at 8:10am and the affected pipeline was later isolated. Disaster management officials said shutting the
DITCH TACTICS: Kenyan officers were on their way to rescue Haitian police stuck in a ditch suspected to have been deliberately dug by Haitian gang members A Kenyan policeman deployed in Haiti has gone missing after violent gangs attacked a group of officers on a rescue mission, a UN-backed multinational security mission said in a statement yesterday. The Kenyan officers on Tuesday were on their way to rescue Haitian police stuck in a ditch “suspected to have been deliberately dug by gangs,” the statement said, adding that “specialized teams have been deployed” to search for the missing officer. Local media outlets in Haiti reported that the officer had been killed and videos of a lifeless man clothed in Kenyan uniform were shared on social media. Gang violence has left
US Vice President J.D. Vance on Friday accused Denmark of not having done enough to protect Greenland, when he visited the strategically placed and resource-rich Danish territory coveted by US President Donald Trump. Vance made his comment during a trip to the Pituffik Space Base in northwestern Greenland, a visit viewed by Copenhagen and Nuuk as a provocation. “Our message to Denmark is very simple: You have not done a good job by the people of Greenland,” Vance told a news conference. “You have under-invested in the people of Greenland, and you have under-invested in the security architecture of this
Japan unveiled a plan on Thursday to evacuate around 120,000 residents and tourists from its southern islets near Taiwan within six days in the event of an “emergency”. The plan was put together as “the security situation surrounding our nation grows severe” and with an “emergency” in mind, the government’s crisis management office said. Exactly what that emergency might be was left unspecified in the plan but it envisages the evacuation of around 120,000 people in five Japanese islets close to Taiwan. China claims Taiwan as part of its territory and has stepped up military pressure in recent years, including