Strike closes Paris's refurbished Musée d'Orsay

Paris’s museum of 19th-century art, the Musée d’Orsay, has had a makeover … but art-lovers cannot see the new-look galleries because of a strike by personnel demanding more staff.

Musée d'Orsay

A meeting of strikers on Tuesday agreed to continue their industrial action, which started last Thursday.

The Musée d'Orsay has added 2,000 square metres to its exhibition area and the strikers argue that 20 more attendants need to be taken on because, they say, more space means more work.

The new rooms and a refurbished gallery housing the museum’s world-famous collection of French impressionist paintings were inaugurated on 12 October but not many people have seen them thanks to the strike that started on 20 October.

Management claim that only 37 of 600 staff are on strike but that they have “paralysed” the museum and cost it 250,000 euros.

Curiously, unions say there are fewer strikers – 28 – but that only the 50 attendants were called on to take action.

The culture ministry has promised to recruit 13 attendants, according to management.