Louvre gets space for touch-up amid public closure for pandemic

PARIS - The 518-year-old Mona Lisa has seen many things in her life on a wall, but rarely this: Almost four months with no Louvre visitors.

As she stares out through bulletproof glass into the silent Salle des Etats, in what was once the world's most-visited museum, her celebrated smile could almost denote relief. A bit further on, the white marble Venus de Milo is for once free of her girdle of picture-snapping visitors.

It's uncertain when the Paris museum will reopen, after being closed on Oct 30 in line with the French government's virus-containment measures. But those lucky enough to get in benefit from a rare private look at collections covering 9,000 years of human history-with plenty of space to breathe.

That's normally sorely lacking in a museum that's blighted by its own success: Before the pandemic, staff walked out complaining they couldn't handle the overcrowding, with up to 30,000-40,000 visitors a day.

The forced closure has also granted museum officials a golden opportunity to carry out long-overdue refurbishments that were simply not possible with nearly 10 million visitors a year.

Unlike the first lockdown, which brought all Louvre activities to a halt, the second has seen some 250 of the museum employees remain fully operational.

An army of curators, restorers and workers are cleaning sculptures, reordering artifacts, checking inventories, reorganizing entrances and conducting restorations, including in the Egyptian Wing and the Grande Galerie, the museum's largest hall that is being fully renovated.

"We're taking advantage of the museum's closure to carry out a number of major works, speed up maintenance operations and start repair works that are difficult to schedule when the museum is operating normally," says Laurent le Guedart, the Louvre's architectural heritage and gardens director.

As Le Guedart speaks, restorers are standing atop scaffolds taking scientific probes of the walls in preparation for a planned restoration, traveling back to the 18th century through layer after layer of paint. Around the corner the sound of carpenters taking up floorboards is faintly audible. They are putting in the cables for a new security system.

Previously, these jobs could only be done on a Tuesday, the Louvre's only closed day in the week. Now hammers are tapping, machines are drilling and brushes are scrubbing to a full week schedule, slowed down only slightly by social distancing measures.

In total, 10 large-scale projects that were on hold since last March are underway-and progressing fast. This includes works in the Etruscan and Italian Halls, and the gilded Salon Carre. A major restoration of the ancient Egyptian tomb chapel of Akhethotep from 2400 BC is also underway.

"When the museum reopens, everything will be perfect for its visitors-this Sleeping Beauty will have had the time to powder her nose," says Elisabeth Antoine-Konig, artifacts department curator.

"Visitors will be happy to see again these now well-lit rooms with polished floors and remodeled display cases."

ASSOCIATED PRESS