Louvre uses Covid-19 lockdown to make major renovations

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Written by Saskya Vandoorne, CNNParis, France

Contributors Mark EsplinAntonella Francini

As the world’s most visited museum awakens, escalators that once carried up to 40,000 pairs of feet a day quietly pass through the empty lobby.
Lockdown restrictions shut down the Louvre in late October, leaving world-famous artworks like “Venus de Milo”, “Liberty Leading the People” and the “Mona Lisa” without the usual crowd of admirers.

But they’re not all alone – the museum is making the most of the closures by carrying out long-planned renovations.

“(The Louvre) is still alive, even though from the outside it seems to be really sleeping,” says project manager Gautier Moysset, standing in front of a series of 19th century doors that once opened onto the bedroom of French kings.

Behind him, Gaëlle Dulac gently brings the doors back to life, alternating between boar bristle and badger hair brushes while mimicking the grain of the wood with coats of paint.

She is part of a team of experts and craftsmen who worked five days a week to refurbish the Renaissance palace. They also include curator Côme Fabre, who oversees the reconstruction of “Nude Youth Sitting by the Sea” by French artist Hippolyte Flandrin. Under the watchful eye of Fabre, four men balance on scaffolding and hoist the painting of a rolled-up young man into position.

The “Mona Lisa” alone in the Louvre without visitors.

The curator says the silent period has helped him rethink how the Louvre displays its vast collection.

“Suddenly a painting seems too big (or) too small, or the frame doesn’t match the one in the neighborhood,” he explains. “You have to listen to what the works have to say. Sometimes they don’t like each other and you have to take them apart.”

Curator Julien Cuny also takes the opportunity to reflect on the Persian collections he manages.

“There must be cohesion in the museum. What is the work doing here? How does it speak to the other works?” he says, guiding a 400-pound forklift truck down a corridor lined with Roman marble sculptures.

While grateful for the time given to him, Cuny knows that the Louvre took a big hit during the Covid-19 pandemic. Last year, the museum lost more than 90 million euros ($ 109 million) in revenue and saw a 72% drop in visitors.

“It’s sad, because we can do a lot from a logistical point of view,” says Cuny. “But the artworks are made to be seen.”

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