The new President of the Paris Museum who must manage the absence of foreign visitors wants, among other things, to extend the opening hours to seduce the French public.
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“I want to reinchand the Louvre.” For his first speaking since his arrival at the head of the Paris Museum, the 1 Er September 2021, Laurence des Cars fixed the frame his mandate. Finished the race at gigantism dear to its predecessor, Jean-Luc Martinez, who had welcomed up to 10.2 million visitors in 2018, REC
ORD for the Louvre. Now place “pleasure” and “quality” of the visit. “The problem is not to have 8, 9 or 10 million visitors, but to have 8, 9 or 10 million visitors badly welcomed,” said the new president of the museum during a meeting with the press Tuesday 8 February.
Laurence des Cars has no choice. With the health crisis, the attendance of the Louvre collapsed. In 2021, the flagship of the French museums welcomed 2.8 million visitors, compared to 9.6 million in 2019. The fault of the five months of the closure imposed by the Government to combat CVIV-19, but also to the desertion of the foreign tourists, which represent only 39% of visits against 75% before the epidemic. A haemorrhage far from over. “We do not imagine back to a pre-crisis situation before 2025 or 2026”, fears the former president of Orsay.
The problem? The French public, returned strategically for at least a few years, has a bad image of the Louvre, liner of 2,200 employees. Interminable waiting lines at the entrance, crowd in front of masterpieces, a complex signage … Number of visitors keep a bad memory of their passage in the house of the jocona. “The visitor must feel good at the Louvre and not in stressors,” says Cars, recognizing in hollow that it was no longer the case.
To improve fluidity, several entries will be open. “We will come out of the dogma of the unique entrance, located today under the pyramid, explains M me of cars. “The idea is to relax the visit.” New passages should emerge from the Seine and the church of Saint-Germain-l’Auxerrois. Access from the Decorative Arts Museum is also envisaged. “We will also revive the square courtyard, which is one of the most beautiful places in the world,” says the president.
New spaces
Old sea snake, an expansion of opening hours at the end of the day is also envisaged, to better welcome the public, including the French assets. Today, the museum closes its doors at 6 pm, which requires them to be there at the latest at 5 pm. “When we close at 6 pm, we do not have the young assets, who are obliged to come on weekends. It is not normal,” says M me of cars, for whom “It is necessary to re-register the Louvre in the city, to redo a place of appointment of the Parisian cultural life”, with concerts, shows, etc.
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