Louvre, Musée d’Orsay and Versailles Palace may open seven days a week
Paris’s Louvre and d’Orsay museums and the Versailles Palace could soon open every day of the week as visitor numbers grow and state subsidies fall, sources at the French culture ministry said on Thursday.
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The ministry is considering ordering major cultural sites, in particular the world-famous Louvre, the Musée d’Orsay and the Château de Versailles to open every day, instead of closing on Monday or Tuesday as they do at present.
Sources at the ministry on Thursday confirmed a report in Le Figaro newspaper, adding that they were studying the likely effects on jobs and organisation.
The move has been inspired by the experience of major sites in New York, London and Madrid, Le Figaro said, pointing out that the exercise had proved profitable in the US and Spain.
Visitors from all over the world queue daily to view the Louvre’s famous collection, forming crowds in front of Leonardo da Vinci’s Mona Lisa and the Winged Victory of Samothrace, and visit the Musée d’Orsay to see an unparalleled collection of impressionist and other 19th-century art.
In 2013 9.2 million people visited the Louvre, 3.5 million the Orsay and seven million Versailles, including those attending concerts there.
Visiting France? Read Art exhibitions in Paris, February-September 2014
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