Rain blast in Louvres Zimabue exhibition

It is no secret that the Louvre creaking; In a leaked memo to the French culture memo in published in Le Parisien In January, the director of the Museum – Laurence of the Car – found that “structural damage” everywhere and the collection threatened. He also said that some parts of the building were “no longer waterproof”.

So it cannot be a surprise that the museum's roof last Saturday also ran the museum's roof. A strong hailstorm injured the roof of the Louvre in the afternoon and let water drop into the Salle Rosa area, in which its headlining exhibition “A new view of Cimabue: The origins of Italian painting”, which runs until May 12.

The artificial line of the newspaper Martin Bailey was in the museum last weekend and reported that he discovered the water in front of the guards. Giovanni Cimabue missed it just unprotected Maestà Wood panel painting (approx. 1280, 1812 acquired by the Louvre and susceptible to water damage). It is still in its original decorated frame.

“Was the leak on the ceiling only two meters from where the water fell, the impact on Maestà would have been catastrophic, ”wrote Bailey. (The painting has recently been restored for the first time in two centuries, which was the main reason for the orientation of the Cimabue show now.)

The basis of the sculptor Nicola Pisano's Three acolyths (1264-67), which was loan from the Florence Museo Nazionale Del Bargello, was not so happy. Some drops hit it – and the label got wet.

Two employees of the museum were forced into the insufficient task of keeping a tarpaulin about the work of art as a provisional umbrella while the backup was called.

Then, another almost -Miss – this time droplets fell no more than a meter from Duccio di Buoninsegna's. Madonna the Franciscan (1285-88). In contrast to the highly towering MaestàIt is covered with glass. It was awarded by the Pinacoteca Nazionale in Siena for the show.

A Louvre spokesman confirmed The art line That it “experienced some water infiltration in areas where the glass roofs take place”. The museum emphasized that “no works were damaged.”

The museum closed the public shortly before 5 p.m., 30 minutes after the first signs of leakage to the public. A Louvre spokesman said it was that firefighters could inspect the roofs. Immediately afterwards they said: “The cause was identified – a damaged glass seal.” The exhibition was opened to the public again on Sunday morning after the seal was replaced.

In January, the French President said Emmanuel Macron-, the Louvre had to be restored around 750 million euros ($ 850 million), which probably only begins in the 2030s.

It is not the only large French museum in a state of decay. The Pompidou Center will close its doors for five years in September, while a renovation of € 262 million (€ 283.6 million) is subjected to. French officials said Paris' Top Museum for Modern and Contemporary Art needs the closure, so that it can be maintained in its famous building, which was designed by Richard Rogers and Renzo Piano. According to the museum, the structure has caused considerable damage since the first building in the 1970s.