Timeless masterpieces from the Louvre Art Museum will be moved to a secure locations to preserve them from being damaged in the vaults by water seeping in from the River Seine.
Amid fears that flooding of the River Seine could destroy the
artworks forever, France’s culture minister Aurelie Filippetti
after months of debate announced that art would be transferred
from Paris to the city of Lens in northern France.
That means that over 90 percent of the museum collection,
comprising of around 460,000 works could potentially be moved.
The Louvre has roughly 35,000 pieces on public display. The
number of art works that would be shipped north has not been
specified.
The project, which will cost approximately €60 million will be
co-funded by the Nord Pas-de-Calais region, and the Louvre and
will entail the construction of a 23,500 m2 museum near the
current site of the Louvre-Lens.
The idea behind the move is to preserve the artwork from a widely
anticipated flood that usually hits the French capital once every
century. Currently, a large part of the Louvre collection
is located in the basement of the museum and occupies an area of
8,600 m2 of floor space in a flood zone.
If the River Seine were to rise beyond the record level of 28
feet, reached in 1910, countless masterpieces could be lost
forever. Located in the centre of Paris, the building occupies a
strategic position but since it stands beside the River Seine,
the Museum is at risk of flooding.