The bad weather of recent days has caused the flooding of several rivers and especially the Seine in Paris.
Faced with this threat, Françoise Nyssen, Minister of Culture, mobilized all the cultural institutions located along the Seine as of Monday, January 22, 2018 and established a follow-up and coordination between the institutions concerned, its services and civil protection authorities.
The museums of the Louvre, Orsay, Decorative Arts and Quai Branly-Jacques Chirac, the RMN-GP and Universcience which respectively manage the Grand Palais and the Palais de la Découverte, as well as the Ecole du Louvre and the Centre de recherche et restauration des musées de France (C2RMF) have already activated appropriate measures for the situation, in accordance with their respective Flood Protection Plans (PPCPs).
The Louvre Museum remains open to the public while at the same time beginning the first preparatory actions for the possible evacuation of the works of the Department of Islamic Arts which is closed. The reserve areas of the works are also under control.
The Musée d'Orsay remains open except at night. It has also triggered the preparatory measures and is ready to ensure all necessary measures. As a precaution, the rooms of the «upstream pavilion» were closed to move the works present in reserve. It should be noted that following the 2016 flood, the museum had already transferred a significant portion of the works in reserve to external reserves, which may be threatened.
The Reunion of National Museums - Grand Palais has placed the institution at alert level 2 of its protection plan, a situation of alert and pre-mobilization.
The C2RMF, whose workshops occupy certain basements of the Louvre Palace and the Pavillon de Flore, has evacuated all the works currently being restored in workshops located at the Seine level to make them safe in the workshops upstairs. The Director will make the decision tomorrow for the possible relocation of the laboratory that houses the AGLAE particle accelerator.
The Museum of Decorative Arts and the MQB-JC have also taken all preparatory measures to evacuate works from their reserves, if they pose the least risk.
Françoise Nyssen personally follows the evolution of the situation and wishes to commend the commitment and professionalism of the teams mobilized in each of these institutions to ensure the safety of the works of the national collections, during this sensitive period which should continue until this weekend.