SOME OF Paris’s most popular museums were forced to close yesterday when a 10-day strike at the city’s Centre Pompidou spread to other major cultural sites.
The Musée d’Orsay, the Arc de Triomphe, the Sainte-Chapelle and the Musée Rodin were all closed because of the dispute, while the Louvre – the world’s most visited museum – was partially shut.
The closures followed votes by staff in each institution yesterday morning to join a strike by their counterparts at the Centre Pompidou, the city’s leading modern art gallery.
Unions say the government’s plans to replace only one of every two retiring civil servants will undermine French museums, as will its plan to cut some subsidies.
The non-replacement plan, designed to reduce the state payroll and cut the budget deficit, was a campaign pledge of President Nicolas Sarkozy before the 2007 election.
After first being applied to government ministries, it is now being extended to organisations owned by the state, including museums and other cultural sites.
Employees at the Centre Pompidou – which has been closed since November 23rd – believe the cuts will be particularly damaging at the landmark gallery, where some 44 per cent of staff are aged 50 or older.
They suggest the government’s programme means 400 of the 1,100 jobs at “Beaubourg” will be cut over the next 10 years.
“The fewer staff there are, the greater the risk that the museum opens in conditions that are unacceptable in terms of security, be it for the artworks, visitors or building,” said Didier Alaime, spokesman of the CGT union’s culture section.
The Louvre opened more than an hour late yesterday after workers met under its famous glass pyramid to discuss strike options, and the museum had to close some of its rooms because of a lack of staff.
Its employees will meet this morning to decide on further action after talks between unions and culture minister Frédéric Mitterrand yesterday.
The Musée d’Orsay, home to an extensive collection of Impressionist paintings, was closed for the day, as were the Arc de Triomphe, the gothic Sainte-Chapelle and the Hotel Biron, which houses a museum devoted to the work of sculptor Auguste Rodin.
Tourism accounts for about 6 per cent of gross domestic product in France, and museums play a major role in drawing the crowds. Last year some 80 million people visited France; the Louvre alone sees about six million visitors a year, while the Centre Pompidou attracts 5,000 to 8,000 visitors a day.
Union activists have complained that even before the new measures were implemented, many museums had to close off rooms and display fewer artworks to cope with a lack of staff.