In 2000, Marseilles’ National Museum of European and Mediterranean Civilization (mucem), formerly the National Museum of Folk Art and Traditions, began to update and enhance its collections in order to be ready for its opening by the end of 2012. These efforts aim to document and inventory the approximately one million objects that make up the museum’s holdings, and to undertake the collecting and research necessary to show contemporary society in Europe and the Mediterranean basin. Ethnological field work is thus linked to assembling a cultural heritage that is both material and non-material in order to provide the future basis for this important museum.