FRENCH MUSEUMS PREPARING FOR BANKRUPTCIES

The restrictions imposed by the French authorities due to the pandemic could cause mass bankruptcies of large and small museums. The doors of cultural institutions have remained closed for several months, while they themselves are preparing for possible bankruptcies. The representative of the Louvre Frederic Jousset announced this on the air of a local TV channel.

According to him, the monthly losses of the Louvre Museum are about € 10 million. At the same time, according to the administration of the museum, last year its attendance decreased by 72% due to the decline in tourism, fear of illness and the closure of state borders. The 3 million people who had visited the museum were unable to compensate for the losses it incurred due to the restrictions imposed.

Versailles missed about € 70 million in 2020.

The destruction of museums had become an obvious fact, said Jousset. At the same time, visitors of stores are at risk of contracting COVID-19 to a much greater extent than visitors of museums, but retail outlets continue to operate. This contradiction violates the logic of the rules established by state authorities and must be eliminated, especially when it comes to small museums, the daily attendance of which even before the pandemic did not exceed a few people.

As for such large cultural centers as Versailles and Louvre, they should also be re-opened with simple restrictions. The organization of a system for booking tickets on the Internet could allay the concerns of the authorities. At the same time, the curfew established in France (it starts after 18-00) will not have a big impact on traffic, since evening visits to the Louvre or Versailles are not the common for the majority of visitors.

It is known that the petition previously published by the director of the Palais de Tokyo (a museum in Paris) has already collected more than 5,000 signatures from representatives of the museum business.

In particular, the document was signed by the heads of large associations in the field of French culture and the heads of museums. The petition calls for allowing cultural institutions to open their doors to visitors, at least partially. A similar appeal was sent to the republican ministry of culture.