Collections for Educational Purposes

Published on

3rd July 2026

updated on

6th July 2026

On July 14, 2026, the city of Nice commemorates the attack that took place on the famous Promenade des Anglais. Within the collections of the Museum and Memorial of Terrorism, this event holds a deeply significant place. The attack on July 14, 2016—which struck families gathered to celebrate the national holiday—left a major human and artistic impact. The items gathered here bear witness to this event: they depict the faces of the affected children, the creative process of the artists who produced them, and the victims’ journey through the legal proceedings. Through these creations, the MMT brings the memory of Nice to life in a dimension that is both intimate and collective, where art becomes a space for transmission.

Don de Esteban Peña Villagràn et Federica Fratagnoli

WEAVING SILENCE

In May 2024, artists Federica Fratagnoli and Esteban Peña Villagrán donated a work to the Museum and Memorial of Terrorism inspired by the July 14, 2016, attack in Nice, serving as a continuation of their film Le souffle de vie. This large-scale textile piece, worked on both sides, depicts on one side the Promenade des Anglais and its iconic landmarks, where silhouettes rise above the sea in tribute to the victims. The other side bears the Mapuche flag, recalling Esteban Peña Villagrán’s Chilean origins. Their creation draws on the aesthetic of arpilleras—fabrics sewn by Chilean women during the Pinochet dictatorship to depict daily life and secretly convey messages. By drawing on this technique of women’s resistance, the work connects the memory of Nice to an international history of struggle against oppression. Conceived as an evolving and participatory piece, it could incorporate words or images in an educational context, while ensuring its preservation. Through its dialogue between Chile and France, and between personal and collective memory, it also highlights the diversity of the 86 victims of the Nice attack.

Don de Hager Ben Aouissi / Collections du GIP MMT

RECONSTRUCTION MASK

This mask, created as part of a psychological support program by a child who survived the July 14, 2016, attack, is a rare work of expression within the collections of the Museum and Memorial of Terrorism. Topped with a cap and featuring multiple disproportionate eyes, it has been interpreted as the embodiment of a state of lasting hypervigilance, stemming from the moment when the girl spotted the ramming truck before her mother did. This ability to perceive, now viewed by the child as a protective “superpower,” is part of the process of post-traumatic psychological recovery. The dominant presence of blue evokes the sea, a familiar element of the Promenade des Anglais and the immediate surroundings of the attack. Through its symbolic dimension and the graphic representation of a traumatic experience, this mask illustrates how a child’s creative work can become a vehicle for narrating and understanding danger. The Museum and Memorial of Terrorism, which already features works created by children affected by terrorist attacks, plans to give these works a special place in its future museum exhibition. Indeed, they serve as essential resources for understanding the impact of terrorist violence on the youngest members of society.

Lettre manuscrite et badge avec cordons rouge et vert

Don de Anaïs Bonnin / Collections du GIP MMT

COURT BADGE AND TESTIMONY

This court badge and the accompanying handwritten text, written by a survivor of the July 14, 2016, attack, provide a rare insight into how victims experience media coverage and public discourse during terrorism trials. The document describes the choice between two lanyards: red, symbolizing a refusal to be interviewed by the media, and green, signifying acceptance. This seemingly simple gesture reflects the complexity of the relationship with media visibility: to speak or to remain silent, to show oneself or to protect oneself. Through its intimate narrative, this text highlights the tension between the fear of exposure and the need to bear witness. The Museum and Memorial of Terrorism gives a central place to these objects from the trials: they embody the judicial dimension of collective memory and the restorative function of justice. By allowing victims to speak out, the trials contribute to the acknowledgment of trauma and the reaffirmation of the rule of law in the face of violence. Incorporating these traces into the future museum exhibition means recognizing that justice itself produces a work: that of a reconstructed narrative and a space of truth. These objects, at the intersection of testimony and symbolism, remind us that the memory of terrorism is also constructed within the courtroom, where French society confronts the event in order to better understand and move beyond it.