In the city of Paris, the National Museum of Asian Arts-Guimet is famous for its rich collection of Asian artifacts. CGTN recently had a conversation with Yannick Lintz, president of the Guimet Museum, discussing the museum's pivotal role in advancing cultural exchanges and mutual learning in contemporary society. During a recent visit to China, Lintz visited Beijing, Xi'an and Shanghai to deepen her understanding of Chinese culture and art. In this exclusive interview, she offered her insight into the invaluable Asian artifacts showcased at the museum, and about its future plans.

The Guimet Museum in Paris is one of the most important Asian art museums in Europe, and is a place where visitors from Europe and the rest of the world can discover Asian culture and art. Lintz says the museum offers European visitors the opportunity to access every kind of Asian art.

For a museum president, choosing a favorite exhibit is a challenging task. Among the many beloved artifacts, Lintz's favorite is a blue and white vase dating back to China's Yuan Dynasty (1271-1368). The vase is predominantly dark blue and bears a striking white dragon on its surface. For her, it symbolizes what she loves about Chinese culture and Chinese civilization as a whole. 

To mark the 60th anniversary of diplomatic ties between China and France and the Paris Summer Olympics, Lintz expressed her hope of boosting cultural communications through special events at the museum. She said that 2024 will be the Chinese Year of the Guimet Museum. "It's a real opportunity, because our responsibility is to educate our European visitors about Asian cultures, so to have such a possibility for celebration makes things easier," said Lintz.

Another important responsibility of museums is to protect and pass on cultural relics. Lintz also shared her views about preserving cultural artifacts. She said that the museum's philosophy for conservation is to do the utmost to keep the relics in their original condition. "Preserve them … and respect time with these objects, and just do what you can to preserve them through good lighting … temperature and humidity. This is our responsibility as curators," said Lintz.

Since museums face many challenges in the 21st century, Lintz is also forced to think about how to deal with new challenges. "As directors of museums, we have all the same questions about how to remain attractive today to the younger generations," said Lintz. She believes that the introduction of digital technology in museums could be one way to attract more visitors. In the meantime, she admits that making the permanent galleries more attractive, compared to temporary exhibitions, is one of the core challenges for her and the museum in the future.  

Lintz also offered her perspective on cultural exchanges. She said that one of the responsibilities of her museum in Paris and its counterparts in China was to explain diverse perspectives to their respective audiences, where she stressed the importance of communication: "I like to develop my relations with my colleagues at Chinese museums … I want to stay modest. I'm not Chinese. I cannot imagine that I understand everything about Chinese art or Chinese culture, so I see how it's useful for me to work with my Chinese colleagues."