THE STATE AND ITS MUSEUMS IN THE PROVINCES - OR HOW TO RECONCILE THE FREEDOM OF INITIATIVE AND THE DUTIES OF THE STATE

After the French Revolution, museums in the provincial departments were able to live in quasi autonomy for many years, as they were left to themselves by both the State and the national museums. Then came the Third Republic. The Republicans took a strong interest in these museums as places for education and as symbols of municipal power. They kept trying to impose centralist legislation on their collections and their staff. This policy was nominally carried out in the name of the State's duties regarding the safety of the artists'works, but in fact was implemented for the sake of Jacobinism. It met with strong opposition in the provinces, even in the most republican cities, in the name of the freedom of initiative of municipal powers.