Reopening of the museum of the Louvre, the rush will be later

The Louvre museum reopens after three and a half months of closure. He had never closed for so long since the second world War.

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July 5, 2020 22h26

Updated at 23h05

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Reopening of the museum of the Louvre, the rush will be later

Jean-Louis De La Vaissière

Agence France-Presse

PARIS — After three and a half months of closure, the Louvre, the most visited museum in the world, reopens Monday in Paris its doors to the public, but without the crowd of the great days, pending the return of foreign visitors.

It is a recovery in the impatience, the fear, and the hope for the management and the staff of the grand museum, which has lost more than 40 million euros of income during the confinement and is deprived of the usual crowds of american tourists, chinese, Korean, japanese, brazilian…

75% of the public in the museum is usually formed of foreigners. But for the moment, only the European countries close to be able to begin to return, probably in the dropper at the beginning.

The museum had never closed for so long since the second world War.

The management expects three difficult years, knowing that the total of the tickets sold in 2020 will be very far from the record of more than ten million in 2018.

The first visitors will be able to enter from 9: 00 A.M. (07: 00 GMT) in the museum. While the device has been studied extensively in order to avoid any incident health. But the logistics teams are confident because the place is very spacious.

The access in front of the Pyramid is planned over three files, each visitor should have brought his mask: there will be those who will come for their appointment time stamped that they have booked on the internet since June 15 those who arrive in advance to a schedule later booked, and, finally, those who will come, one never knows, in the hope of finding a seat.

The mona lisa, the winged Victory of Samothrace, Liberty leading the people, the Raft of the medusa, the Venus de Milo, the Crown jewels and other wonders… The rooms most frequented will be open to those holding collections very popular with the public in the paris region, like the Antiquities of Egypt, Greece and Rome.

Some of the collections -about 30%- will not be accessible in the first few weeks and months, as the French sculpture of the Middle ages and the Renaissance, or the arts of Africa, Asia, Oceania, and the Americas.

It will, however, still a lot to see: a visitor intrepid could theoretically be on the run-see more than 30,000 works covering a surface area of 45 000 m2.

But the gauges have one advantage: it will be more pleasant to walk in the suites of rooms, without crowding, habitual and countless selfies.

Without back

Under the large canopy of the Pyramid of Ieoh Ming Pei, the hubbub and the friendly crowd will not be at the rendezvous. The locker rooms will remain closed. And the vending machines. Unnecessary to bring jackets, motorcycle helmets or luggage.

A road sign in blue will indicate the direction of the course, which will be mandatory in the case of influx, and without the possibility of return back. Markings are provided for, including in front of the mona lisa to avoid the crowds.

A new audioguide Nintendo may be rented from the 15th of July. Available in 9 languages, there will be innovative content for better understanding of the history rooms and collections with their mysteries and their stories.

– Only temporary exhibition: the Little Gallery, Figure artist, who was there before the containment, has been extended. Reduced, very didactic and enjoyable, it presents a selection of some of the most beautiful paintings, including portraits of which boasts the Louvre, from Rembrandt to Dürer, Delacroix to Vigée-Lebrun.

The season that should be dedicated to the geniuses of the Renaissance in the spring, after the success of the blockbuster Leonardo da Vinci, has been postponed. It will have to wait for October for his two exhibitions, The Body and the soul. From Donatello to michelangelo and Albrecht Altdorfer, a master of the German Renaissance.

Conscious of the difficult situation of the guide-lecturers independent, the museum has chosen to accept groups of up to 25 people, which should be equipped with headsets and microphones. And it will take a variety of actions of mediation with families and young audiences.

Le Soleil