French Museums Will Reopen to the Public This Summer—But They Expect a Quiet Season as International Tourism Craters

France’s museums are now planning to gradually reopen—with
social-distancing restrictions in place—this June and July. The
announcement comes after several of the country’s European
neighbors, including Germany and Italy, have carefully
reopened their own museums in recent weeks.

The Louvre’s annex museum 120 miles north of Paris, Louvre-Lens,
will lead the way for France when it reopens its doors on June 3,
the Art Newspaper
reports.

Following in its footsteps is the Château de Versailles, which
will open June 6; Paris’s Musée du Quai Branly on June 9; the Musée
d’Orsay on June 23; and both the Centre Pompidou and the Grand
Palais on July 1. The Musée Rodin will reopen about a week
later.

The last major French museum to roll out its reopening plan is
the Louvre—the most visited museum in the world—which is currently
scheduled to begin welcoming visitors again on July 6. Chairman
Jean-Luc Martinez told the Art Newspaper that it
would make 70 percent of the space accessible to the returning
public. Signposts will guide traffic in directions that encourage
proper social distancing and attendance will be especially limited
in the gallery that houses Leonardo’s Mona Lisa.

Masks are required for entry at all museums and visitors are
encouraged to book timed tickets online in advance.

Maintaining social distance should be easier this summer, since
attendance numbers are expected to plummet with the decline of
international tourism, which comprises more than 75 percent of the
Louvre’s audience. (Martinez told TAN that the museum has
so far refunded 70,000 advance tickets purchased online.)

Visitors who do make it to the Louvre
this summer will be able to see the exhibition “The Advent of the
Artist,” which highlights artists’ self-portraits. But its
exhibition on German Renaissance artist Albrecht Altdorfer and its
blockbuster show on the masters of Italian Renaissance sculpture,
“Body and Soul Sculpture in Italy from Donatello to Michelangelo,”
have both been delayed.

The post French Museums Will Reopen to the Public This
Summer—But They Expect a Quiet Season as International Tourism
Craters appeared first on artnet News.