Various old works and documents were damaged on November 27 at the Louvre Museum by a flood in the library of Egyptian antiquities due to the rupture of certain pipes whose state of disrepair was known.
The information was revealed this Sunday by The Art Tribunespecialized publication, and confirmed by the BFMTV channel, which was able to consult several photographs of the accident and an internal email from the Health, Safety and Working Conditions Committee (CHSCT) in which they report what happened.
In this message sent a day later, the author explained that “a valve which fed the pipes above the documentation, which were known to be defectivecaused a significant flood of dirty water, which seriously damaged works and documents and considerably deteriorated our colleagues’ workspaces.”
The consequence, according to this story, was that the carpet was affected and the offices became unusable. Employees working that night were able to plug the leak. without affecting an electrical box on a lower floor, which would have increased the risk of causing a “serious” accident, according to the CHSCT.
Some damaged works will be “irrecoverable”
The person responsible for The Art TribuneDidier Rykner, it is estimated that “around 400 works” were damagedsome of them in an “unsalvageable” state. Rykner denounced that this incident is not a surprise because “for years” ministry staff have been asking for funds to protect the books from a possible break in the pipes “whose state of disrepair is well known.”
The Library of Egyptian Antiquities, located in the Mollien pavilionis part of a study and documentation service accessible only to curators, historians, academics and staff of the Louvre Museum.
Rykner complained about the allegedly deplorable state of these facilities contrast with the 276,000 euros spent essentially to buy designer furniture for the offices of the president and director of the Louvre, Laurence des Cars, its general administrator and a few other employees who have their offices in this district.
All this is happening at a time when the Louvre is embroiled in controversy surrounding the spectacular theft it suffered on October 19, during which a group of thieves They came in with a forklift To the Apollo gallery, in broad daylight, they took the jewels from the crown of France.
All the members of the commando were arrested, but the jewelry could not be recovered. Next Wednesday, in the Senate, the conclusions of the administrative investigation launched to clarify what happened and possible security failures will be presented.
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