After three and a half months of closure, the Louvre, the most visited museum in the world, reopens on Monday in Paris on Monday, but without the crowds of the big days, pending the return of foreign visitors. The museum had never closed for so long since the Second World War. It is a recovery in impatience, apprehension and hope for the management and staff of the large museum, which lost more than 40 million euros in revenue during the confinement and is deprived of the usual crowds of American, Chinese, Korean, Japanese, Brazilian tourists ... 75% of the museum's public is usually made up of foreigners. But for now only Europeans from neighboring countries will be able to start coming back, probably at a dropper at first.
The first visitors will be able to enter the museum this morning from 9 a.m. The entire system has been studied at length to avoid any health incident. But the logistics teams are confident because the premises are very spacious. Access to the Pyramid is provided on three lines, each visitor must have brought their mask: there will be those who will come for their time-stamped appointment, which they will have booked on the Internet since June 15, those who will arrive at the advance for a later reserved schedule, and, finally, those who will come, you never know, in the hope of finding places.
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The Mona Lisa, the Victory of Samothrace, the Freedom guiding the people, the Raft of the jellyfish, the Venus of Milo, the jewels of the Crown and other wonders ... The most frequented rooms will be open as well as those housing collections very popular with the public of the Paris region like the Antiquities of Egypt, Greece and Rome. Some collections - around 30% - will not be accessible in the first weeks and months, such as French sculpture from the Middle Ages and the Renaissance or the arts of Africa, Asia, Oceania and the Americas. However, there will still be a lot to see: a fearless visitor could theoretically see more than 30,000 works running over an area of 45,000 m². But the gauges have an advantage: it will be more pleasant to walk in the rows of rooms, without the usual crowds and the countless selfies.
Under the large glass roof of the Pyramid of Ieoh Ming Pei, the hubbub and the friendly crowd will not be there. The locker rooms will remain closed. As are the vending machines. No need to bring coats, motorcycle helmets or luggage. A blue arrow will indicate the directions of the courses, which will be compulsory in the event of crowds, and without the possibility of going back. Ground markings are provided, especially in front of the Mona Lisa to avoid crowds. A new Nintendo audio guide can be rented from July 15. Available in 9 languages, it will offer innovative content to better understand the history of rooms and collections with their mysteries and anecdotes.
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Only temporary exhibition: in the Little Gallery, "Figure of an artist", which was there before confinement, has been extended. Reduced, very educational and pleasant, it presents a selection of some of the most beautiful paintings, including portraits which the Louvre boasts, from Rembrandt to Dürer, from Delacroix to Vigée-Lebrun. The season that was to be devoted to Renaissance geniuses in the spring, after the success of the Leonardo da Vinci blockbuster, has been postponed. It was not until October for its two major exhibitions, “The Body and the Soul. From Donatello to Michelangelo "and Albrecht Altdorfer, master of the German Renaissance.
Mindful of the plight of independent tour guides, the museum has chosen to accept groups of up to 25 people, who will need to be equipped with headsets and microphones. And it will carry out various mediation actions with families and young audiences. Management expects three difficult years, knowing that the total number of tickets sold in 2020 will be very far from the record of more than ten million reached in 2018.