Along with an institution dedicated to the French language, which opened its doors in Villers-Cotterêts, Picardy, in 2023, it was to be the other major museum project of Emmanuel Macron’s presidency. But the Terrorism Memorial Museum, due to open in March 2027 in the Paris suburb of Suresnes, will not see the light of day.

The news was made official in a December 10 press release from the museum’s planning committee: “This decision was taken unilaterally, without any consultation of those in charge of the project, without knowing anything about its progress, and without informing the associations of victims of terrorism, who have been involved for several years in the creation of this place of memory and history,” the text stated.

“We can’t say it was a total surprise,” explained historian Henry Rousso, president of the planning committee. “The project, which was due to start in May 2024, had come to a complete standstill due to lack of payment of their share by the ministries concerned. We wrote to the president of the Republic at the end of June, and again in July. Our letters went unanswered.” The prime minister’s office also turned a deaf ear, until it summoned Rousso and his number two, Elisabeth Pelsez, on Friday, December 6.

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French government abandons plan for a terrorism memorial museum