Sarkozy Plan for History Museum Fails to Stir France

French presidents have rushed to build a great cultural monument by which to be remembered, from Georges Pompidou's art center and François Mitterrand's Louvre glass pyramid to Jacques Chirac's museum of indigenous art. Now Nicolas Sarkozy wants his own project: a museum of the history of France.

The president, whose emphasis on French pride and "national identity" has already caused controversy, declared this week that an all-encompassing history museum would reinforce "French identity". His museum would not seek to create "an official history", but a pluralistic approach, he told leading arts figures. "There are several ideas, there must be a debate, an argument," he said.

The museum would be built in a "symbolic place" yet to be decided, but Sarkozy's declared passion for bold architecture and praise for Mitterrand suggests that he plans to leave a mark on the landscape.

He is also keen to move away from his image as the first French president unversed in the arts. On official journeys, he has recently sat pointedly reading work by the Nobel-prizewinning French novelist Jean Marie Gustave Le Clézio. He visited the Grand Palais Picasso exhibition and yesterday Le Parisien reported that he had just discovered the Stanley Kubrick films 2001 Space Odyssey and The Shining.

But Sarkozy's use of French history has already rankled with some historians. After his election, he stressed that France - still struggling to come to terms with its second world war collaboration and colonial legacy in Africa - should stop its "repentance". Last year he was forced to drop a controversial proposal that every school child should "adopt" a Jewish child victim of the Holocaust to raise awareness.

Sarkozy first mooted his idea for a French history museum when he took office. A report was commissioned by the curator Hervé Lemoine, who suggested that the museum could be located at Les Invalides, the vast military hospital complex that houses Napoleon's tomb and various museums including the army museum. But the Elysée has not acted on the proposals.

This week, the head of the Musée de l'Armée at Invalides regretted that the breathtaking site was the only suggestion, warning against giving the impression that the armed forces would have a hand in telling the history of France.

Sarkozy is not the first French leader to have grand plans for his nation's history. In 1837 Louis-Philippe, the last king of France, set aside part of the palace of Versailles as a tribute to the "great glories" of the nation, with paintings telling the story of French history, including the crusades and great wars.

"Since the 19th century, there have been lots of attempts at this, it has never worked," said the historian Pierre Nora, who did not oppose the project, but said there would be a fight for funding.

The historian Henry Rousso was concerned by the president's concept of national identity and France's pride in its history. "A national history museum could have a tendency to stress "us" and "them". A history museum at the beginning of the 21st century should be more orientated towards an international community and shared history," he told the Guardian.

Alain Decaux, a historian famous for his television programs, told French radio: "I don't see the use, quite simply, because Paris is one immense museum of the history of France."

Vanity projects

Georges PompidouThe Centre Georges Pompidou for modern art was opened in 1977 to compete with the modern art power-houses of the US. Designed by Renzo Piano and Richard Rogers, it is one of France's most visited attractions

Giscard d'EstaingMusée d'Orsay. The transformation of the former Orsay railway station, built for the Universal Exhibition of 1900, into a museum for art from 1848 to 1914

François MitterrandIM Pei's glass pyramid at the Musée du Louvre. The project, inaugurated in 1989, created a storm of controversy but has become the defining feature of modern Paris. The Grande Arche at La Défense was designed to complete the axis of the Louvre, Champs-Elysees and Arc de Triomphe. A third project was the modern opera house at Bastille, beset by architectural failings, but whose shows have been a commercial success.The Bibliotheque François Mitterrand - the controversial four stark towers in the east of Paris - have been beset by building problems.

Jacques ChiracThe Quai Branly museum of indigenous art, which opened in 2007, was inspired by his interest in African and Asian art.