France's top museums to open every day

France's top museums to open every day
By admin


The Louvre, the world's most visited museum, will soon be open seven days a week.

The French government says the new opening hours will also apply to the nation's other great tourist attractions, the Palace of Versailles and the Musee d'Orsay.

The measure, expected to come into force between 2015 and 2017, ends a tradition of closing the tourist sites one day a week, generally Monday or Tuesday.

The Louvre, home to Leonardo da Vinci's Mona Lisa, attracts more than 9.2 million visitors a year.

The Palace of Versailles, to the southwest of Paris, attracts seven million visitors per year and the Musee d'Orsay 3.5 million.

The new visiting hours "will allow better access for the public and better access to the works" housed there, the culture ministry said.

Other international museums such as Britain's National Gallery and British Museum and the Museum of Modern Art in New York are open every day of the week.

The French government will consult unions about the change, and predicts ticket receipts will outweigh the extra costs.

Unions have their reservations. "The idea is to get the maximum amount of money possible and there is no thought about the visiting conditions," a spokesman said.

"If we open seven days out of seven, we will only be able to open 60 per cent of the rooms whereas today, 85 per cent of the Louvre is open and the visitor density will rise just as quickly as before," he added.

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