Chronicle of an announced resurrection.
But a chronicle that takes its time.
This Monday morning, the Minister of Culture, Roselyne Bachelot, chatted for about two hours by videoconference with about fifty managers of museums, monuments and art centers asking for the reopening of their institutions as soon as possible.
The Minister of Health, Olivier Véran, who was on his way for his vaccination, logged in for about thirty minutes at the meeting, especially to listen.
The museums wanted to work out a reopening protocol, surely arranged schedules - some say 10 am to 4 pm because of the curfew - and audience gauges.
We can see the glass half empty: while two petitions signed by personalities and many heads of museum institutions invited to reopen next weekend, to stick to the school holidays of Ile-de-France residents and have the opportunity to welcome , even in a very restricted, even symbolic, way, children and families, nothing decisive has been recorded.
A short-term possibility
But the half-full glass seems more topical: if the "very short term" is not a priori not yet appropriate to go see the "Mona Lisa" or admire the Mediterranean landscape from the flamboyant MuCEM in Marseille, in the short term. term nevertheless, some expect a possible surprise.
Reopening in mid-March wouldn't really be one, but if it was before?
This desire to welcome the public has not ceased to be relayed for several days.
The first two forums were followed by a third, an open letter to the President of the Republic signed by the editorial directors of the major art magazines, then by the theater community which supports museums.
"These can be the scouts, the first stone to give back a little hope and joy, this famous light at the end of this long tunnel", write in a text released this Monday twelve directors of public theater, including actor Charles Berling, also in charge of the Théâtre Liberté in Toulon.
Distancing is better respected in museums
Museums, it is certain, will reopen first, recalled the minister, their public "circulating", according to the administrative jargon, lending itself better to the distancing than completely closed rooms.
Each week is punctuated by a Defense Council and the possible speeches of the Prime Minister, the museums are therefore moving (very) slowly but surely towards the end of a long winter with closed doors.
In the meantime, the RN mayor of Perpignan, Louis Aliot, announced the reopening of four municipal museums as of Tuesday, free of charge, for a month "in accordance with the necessary sanitary rules".
Lyon Métropole had announced the same thing in mid-December, before deciding at the last moment to present museum works rather in the grounds of the Hôtel de la Métropole, because of the legal risks of opening a museum when the State imposes the closing.
