Audrey Azoulay, Minister of Culture and Communication, gathered this morning the heads of cultural institutions as well as the decentralized services of the State to make a point of situation on the consequences of the floods and the current flood.
The Minister praised the teams' dedication and professionalism, who have been working tirelessly for several days to ensure their mission and protect the assets for which they are responsible. The agents, many of whom returned to work spontaneously, have made it possible to secure works threatened by rising waters.
After the presentation of the situation in Ile-de-France and the Centre-Val de Loire region, the Minister noted that “the plans to shelter works placed in the lowest levels of the reserves have worked”. All public cultural institutions have a flood protection plan, which has been updated in recent years to cover all risks. “The exercises in which the Louvre and the Musée d’Orsay, together with the Prefecture of Police, participated appropriately in March 2016, show how necessary and useful they were today.”
Several Parisian cultural institutions have announced their closure to the public on Thursday, June 2 to proceed with the security of the works. Some of them will remain closed until the beginning of the week.
Today are closed:

  • The Louvre Museum;
  • The Orsay Museum;
  • The National Library of France (BNF): site François Mitterrand and library of the Arsenal;
  • The Grand Palais (RMNGP);
  • The Palace of Discovery (Universcience);
  • Conciergerie (CMN);
  • La Sainte Chapelle (CMN).

Several castles, museums and monuments are also affected and closed to the public. “The Chambord estate, as well as the Azay-le-Rideau gardens and the Château de la Ferté-Saint-Aubin, have suffered significant damage, including electrical damage and flooding of the gardens,” said the Minister at the end of the working meeting.

Audrey Azoulay keeps abreast of developments hour by hour. The crisis staff of the Ministry of Culture and Communication was activated on Thursday, in liaison with the Police Prefecture and all the authorities concerned.