PARIS (AP) – Mona Lisa, 518 years old, has seen many things in her life on a wall, but rarely this: almost four months without visitors to the Louvre.
While looking through bulletproof glass in the silent Salle des Etats, in what was the most visited museum in the world, her famous smile could almost indicate relief. A little further on, the white marble Venus de Milo is for once free from its belt of visitors capturing images.
It is not certain when the museum in Paris will be reopened after it was closed on October 30, in accordance with the French government’s virus isolation measures. But those lucky enough to have a rare private look at the collections covering 9,000 years of human history – with plenty of room to breathe.
Normally, this is missing in a museum affected by its own success: before the pandemic, staff came out complaining that they could not solve the overcrowding, with up to 30,000-40,000 visitors a day.
The forced closure also gave museum officials a golden opportunity to carry out renovations long ago, which were simply not possible with almost 10 million visitors a year.
Unlike the first blockade, which stopped all Louvre activities, the second saw that about 250 museum employees remained fully operational.
An army of curators, restorers and workers cleans sculptures, rearranges artifacts, checks inventories, reorganizes entrances and performs restorations, including in the Egyptian wing and in the Grande Galerie, the museum’s largest hall that is completely renovated.
“We are taking advantage of the museum’s closure to carry out a number of major works, to speed up maintenance operations and to start repair work that is difficult to schedule when the museum is operating normally,” said Laurent le Guedart, Louvre Heritage and Architectural Gardens Director. AP inside the Grande Galerie.
As Guedart spoke to them, the restorers sat on top of the scaffolding taking scientific probes from the walls in preparation for a planned restoration, traveling back to the 18th century through layer after layer of paint.
In the corner, the sound of carpenters taking over the floors was barely audible. They were laying the cables for a new security system.
Previously, these works could only be done on a Tuesday, the only closed day of the Louvre during the week. Now hammers are being beaten, drills and brushes cleaned on a full weekly schedule, slowed down only slightly by social distancing measures.
In total, ten large-scale projects that have been pending since last March are ongoing – and are progressing rapidly.
This includes works in the Etruscan and Italian halls and in the golden Carre salon. The chapel of the Egyptian tomb at Akhethotep from 2400 BC is also undergoing major restoration.
“When the museum reopens, everything will be perfect for its visitors – this Sleeping Beauty will have had time to powder her nose,” said Elisabeth Antoine-Konig, curator of the Artifacts department. “Visitors will be happy to see these well-lit rooms now, with polished floors and remodeled windows.”
Initially, only visitors with pre-booked reservations will be granted entry in accordance with anti-virus security measures.
Those who can’t wait can see the Louvre’s art treasure in online virtual tours.
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Adamson reported from Leeds, England
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