“We must create new stars” other than the Mona Lisa or the Venus de Milo, argues the president of the Sites and Monuments association

While the president-director of the Louvre warns about the dilapidation of the museum, Julien Lacaze president of the Sites and Monuments association evokes “a museum of excess where everything is concentrated, the works and the visitors” and defends the idea of a “better distribution of visitors”.

“It's not a question of gauge” estimates, on franceinfo, Friday January 24, Julien Lacaze, president of the Sites and Monuments association, after the alert from the president and director of the Louvre Museum in Paris, on the state of the largest museum in the world. Laurence des Cars talks about the dilapidation, damage and overcrowding of certain rooms in the museum.

A situation which does not surprise Julien Lacaze, because it is “a museum of excess where everything is concentrated, the works and the visitors“. “All this creates premature wear and discomfort when visiting“, he adds. He pleads for a “better distribution of visitors“. For that, “we need to create new stars” et “make you want“to visitors of”see other works“, continues the heritage defense association.

To regulate this attendance, Julien Lacaze suggests highlighting “a work of deciphering the works which is not done“. A solution which, according to him, would give “want to get lost in this museum and not always focus on the sames “works like”The Mona Lisa, the Venus de Milo, the Victory of Samothrace“.

Concerning the proposal from Rachida Dati, Minister of Culture, to charge a more expensive entrance fee to the Louvre for foreign visitors (68% of visitors) the president of the association considers that “this may be a solution“, but persists: “we must make visitors want to go see them in our churches, in our countryside, and therefore raise attention both to the other works of the Louvre Museum, and then to the works of art” which are not there.