This photograph shows the Moroccan Pavilion along the Avenue of French Colonies during the 1931 Exposition Colonial de Paris, an international exhibition held in Paris over a period of six months. Morocco was one of the best-known African colonies of the French and had been popularly depicted in a large number of French colonial literatures. The Pavilion featured a central garden flanked by Moroccan ‘suoks’ (street market), as well as a series of elaborately decorated rooms containing exhibits by the colony. Apart from the French, the British, Portuguese and Americans, among others, also participated on the exhibition. Most pavilions showcased native architecture and indigenous culture from the various Asian and African colonies, as well as efforts by the colonialists to improve the lives of the colonised peoples, in an attempt to justify and glorify colonialism. This photograph is part of an album on the Exposition, and is a presentation copy signed by the official exhibition photographer, Marcel Braun.
