The president of the largest museum in the world sounds the alarm on the state of the museum buildings in a note addressed to the Minister of Culture. Emmanuel Macron also warned on the subject.
Water infiltration, temperature problems for the conservation of works… Laurence des Cars, president and director of the Louvre museum in Paris, is sounding the alarm on the dilapidation of the largest museum in the world, hoping to obtain support adequate financial.
In a note dated January 13 addressed to the Minister of Culture, Rachida Dati, revealed by Le Parisien and which AFP was able to consult, the leader deplores among other things “the multiplication of damage in sometimes very degraded spaces”, ” obsolescence (of) technical equipment”, as well as “worrying temperature variations endangering the state of conservation of the works”.
“It is my duty to raise awareness as president on these issues and I have already done so on numerous occasions,” she told a few journalists this Thursday, January 23, on the sidelines of the presentation of a new exhibition at the Louvre.
A flooded room, a displaced exhibition
In November 2023, an exhibition dedicated to the drawings of Claude Gillot had to be closed and moved after a few days due to flooding in the Clock Room, where his works were exhibited, according to the museum.
Questioned by AFP, the Elysée indicated that the President of the Republic Emmanuel Macron had been “alerted” on the subject and that he had “exchanged on several occasions with the minister and the management of the museum”.
In his note, Laurence des Cars also mentions the glass pyramid, inaugurated in 1988 and “structurally outdated” in a building designed to accommodate four million visitors per year but which will welcome nearly nine million in 2024 (including nearly 80 % of foreign tourists) and 10 million before the covid crisis.
-Other complaints: the lack of relaxation and catering areas, as well as sanitary facilities below international standards. This situation is “far from living up to its universal influence”, lamented to AFP Christian Galani, member of the national office of the CGT Culture union, of which he is the representative at the Louvre.
Temperature problems
According to him, “not a day goes by without seeing the deterioration of the building, with paint crumbling, rooms, reserves and work spaces sometimes flooded, power outages and delays in payment of providers due to lack of budget.
“Due to a lack of staff, rooms are regularly closed and the working conditions of agents are deteriorating with temperatures around 10-12°C sometimes in winter, and more than 30°C in summer,” affirmed Christian Galani, denouncing in passing the elimination of “more than 200 jobs in ten years”.
Like many public institutions, the Louvre is relying more and more on its own resources, with increased privatization of its spaces, including the Salle des Estates (which houses the Mona Lisa, Editor’s note), and seeks to increase those from patronage .
On March 4, the museum will organize its annual dinner for its patrons aimed at raising funds, like the big MET gala in New York, with, it hopes, a number of international celebrities including the muses of major fashion houses.
