The Musée du Louvre in Paris has closed a collection of galleries devoted to Greek antiquities after investigators found structural weaknesses in components of its huge constructing.
A technical report submitted in mid-November flagged the “explicit fragility” of beams supporting the second ground of the Sully Wing within the museum’s southern wing. The Campana Gallery, which homes 9 rooms of historic Greek ceramics, is positioned on the primary ground of the identical wing.
A press release from the Louvre says: “The Campana gallery… shall be closed to the general public as a precautionary measure.” A museum spokesperson has confirmed that the gallery shall be closed “till additional discover”, however that works gained’t be moved. Nonetheless, 65 of employees primarily based within the area shall be relocated.
Below the Louvre’s vastly bold New Renaissance mission, introduced in January by French President Emmanuel Macron, the “restoration, technical modernisation and revitalisation” of the Sully quadrangle shall be prioritised. As a part of the plan, a brand new customer entrance shall be created beneath the museum’s eastern-facing Perrault Colonnade by 2031 to handle the issue of queues and overcrowding.
In the meantime, a report from the Cour des Comptes—France’s audit establishment—factors to points with the administration of the Musée du Louvre in Paris. Printed following the audacious heist on the Louvre in October, throughout which French crown jewels had been stolen, the report confirms that the museum “has collected appreciable delays within the deployment of safety gear”.
“The general mission, dubbed the Louvre New Renaissance, is now valued at €1.15bn, together with €481m over the following ten years for the primary two phases of the renovation grasp plan. This represents a low estimate contemplating the museum’s want for modernisation,” the Cour des Comptes report states.
The brand new entrance mission and different new areas, which, based on the report, carry “important dangers of price overruns resulting from its complexity” was initially estimated at €450m, earlier than being revised as much as €667m in June.
“Confronted with the budgetary deadlock it’s experiencing, the museum should prioritise its tasks, specializing in investments essential to its future, significantly the upgrading of technical infrastructure, together with safety and security, and the restoration of the palace,” the report provides. In response, the Louvre described the report as “unbalanced”.
The Campana gallery is called after the collector who’s accountable for bringing most of its objects collectively, the Marquis Giampietro Campana, who’s described on the Louvre’s web site as “very vibrant”. Campana began accumulating in his 20s, choosing artefacts from archaeological digs on his household’s property in Frascati, simply exterior of Rome. His assortment of antiquities turned well-known all through the continent and earlier than lengthy he enriched it with Italian work acquired from the gathering of the French cardinal Joseph Fesch.
