In Paris: Floods, crumbling paint: the Louvre is in bad shape

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 The Parisian and that theAFP was able to consult, the manager deplores among other things “the multiplication of damages in sometimes very degraded spaces”, “the obsolescence (of) technical equipment” as well as “worrying temperature variations endangering the state of conservation 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 on Thursday, on the sidelines of the presentation of a new exhibition. of the Louvre.

If the room which houses “The Mona Lisa”, admired every day by around 20,000 visitors, is not affected by damage, this is not the case for other parts of the building in the Sully wing, confirmed to L’AFP a source close to the case. This vast space, which extends over four levels, houses masterpieces by Chardin and Watteau.

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 theAFPthe Élysée 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”. He “will speak soon” on this subject, added a source close to the matter.

In his note, Laurence des Cars also mentions the glass pyramid, inaugurated in 1988 and “structurally outdated” in a building designed to accommodate four million visitors per year, but which will welcome nearly nine million in 2024 (of which nearly 80% foreign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 being up to the height of its universal influence”, deplored to theAFP Christian Galani, member of the national office of the CGT Culture union, of which he is the representative at the Louvre. 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 service 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 degrees sometimes in winter and more than 30 degrees in summer,” affirmed Christian Galani, denouncing in passing the elimination of “more than 200 jobs in ten years”. At least “100 million euros of investments would be necessary, in particular for priority restoration work, of which only 26 million are assured in 2024, the rest having to be spread out until 2032, due to lack of budget”, indicated to L’AFP another source close to the matter.

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 (editor’s note: which houses the Mona Lisa), 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.

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