INTRODUCTION
‘Where the eyes cannot go, where the ears cannot hear, only the heart can go.’ – Proverb from Benin.

Marc and Marie-Luce Arbogast founded an exceptional work with their heart indeed: the Château Vodou in Strasbourg.
For many years, and with a great deal of energy, they have brought together, protected, and then promoted, within a museum in Alsace, the largest West African Vodou collection in the world.
We too have selected with our hearts the most fascinating pieces in the collection. It was an arduous (and subjective) challenge that the team set itself for the Château Vodou’s 10th anniversary exhibition. The sacred, art and science collide and juxtapose continuously in Vodoun/Vodou. How are you supposed to choose between 1,400 objects? Was it necessary to establish a representative sample of the most important artefacts in the cult? Should we choose according to aesthetic/artistic criteria? Should we be convinced by the emotions they evoke in us? Or maybe choose what most reminds us of the word ‘treasure’?
These questions were followed by heated, never-ended debates about the issues surrounding the collection: did we want an exhibition with an ‘anthropological’ focus? What limits should we set when faced with the taboos of the sacred? Is the temptation to rationalise everything inevitable in our profession? How can we define ‘African art’ without becoming part of a Western construct? Does the exhibition of an object inevitably make it a work of art?

Vodou objects have a striking and surprising aesthetic. Their complex shape makes analysis hazardous, even for the greatest specialists. The temptation is there to describe them as works of art when you look at them and their aspect resonates with your innermost being. And yet… their creation was not governed by such considerations. Valuing the cultural products of Africa is a recent interest, linked to certain artists and collectors of the early twentieth century. Yet, such creations were designed for utilitarian purposes and incorporated into the religious sphere. Thus, their artistic vocation cannot be decontextualised.

Most of the following exhibits belong to the intangible, inviolable realm of the sacred. Their purpose is to control chaos, to prevent the worst, illness, death, and misfortune.
Their vital force, their power, is the result of long processes, numerous ingredients, and various invocations. To this end, the hounon cross borders to communicate with the invisible. They transgress the rules of society to maintain the fragile balance between order and disorder. So, just as the religious arouses dazzlement or awe, misunderstandings, and fears, Vodou objects reflect these emotions in their appearance and facial expressions.
Without settling on a definition of the sacred, a reality that is as much subjective as it is objective, we wish to emphasise its importance in the making of Vodou objects and their aesthetic qualities.
These seemingly inert objects conceal a vibratory force, a flow of communication between humanity, the divinities, and nature. Despite the beauty of the object from the viewer’s point of view, its magical power cannot be ignored.
Anthropology also sheds relevant light on the purpose of these objects through the study of their geographical, sociological, and human context. It puts into words the beliefs and their founding principles, their evolution, and reveals the secrets behind the composition of the objects and their symbols.
This journey between culture and memory, everyday needs and aesthetics, flora and heterogeneous materials, functionality, and secrets, will, we hope, lead you to fill up on emotions and sensitive experiences at the heart of the Vodoun treasure of Africa’s sacred arts.