Designed by Renzo Piano; completed 1998 Since the mid-19th century, the Melanesian island community of New Caledonia in the South Pacific Ocean has been a French territory. Prized for its valuable nickel deposits, sections of New Caledonia have been extensively mined by the French, leaving the countryside a disturbing melange of natural landforms and man-made quarries. The desire for cultural recognition became the catalyst for a strong Kanak nationalist movement, which formed in the 1980s. However, despite growing French recognition of the plight of the Kanak people, by 1988 the movement had been largely unsuccessful political extremists assassinated. In the following year, civil unrest grew in New Caledonia, among the Kanak leader, Jean-Marie Tjibaou, and several of his followers. Tjibaou’s death, and the rift it symbolized between the French government and the native Kanak people, led French President Mitterand to support the construction of a cultural center in New Caledonia as the...