werk, bauen + wohnen 1/2-2026 « Museums under Renovation »

Burglary as Performance Art

It took just four minutes. In this brief period thieves ascended the facade of the Louvre in a goods lift, opened the single glazing with a cut-off saw and emptied two display cases. By 9:30 am on the morning of Sunday October 19 the spook was already over, and eight pieces of the French crown jewels were gone. Burglary of this kind is something one would not wish any museum. Today parts of the south wing are closed completely for renovation work. In -Jan-uary 2025 President Macron himself had personally promised 800 million Euro for re-novation work to be carried out up to 2031. A -particular concern was to channel the hordes of people who throng to the Mona Lisa. Today there are already 20 000 visitors daily, a total of 9 million annually. A second main entrance is planned to relieve the situation and to provide a capacity of up to 12 million. The new dimensions cause the problems to grow. Due to chronic shortage of staff, the Louvre had even to be closed during last June.

This is a problem shared by many museums. Institutions from the boom period of cultura-lization in the 1980s are now due for repair and need comprehensive renovation — the successful ones need to be extended. The museum business must be adapted to new demands regarding climate and light technology. Today an up-to-date museum shop is required and rooms for art education facilities are also needed.

Consequently, in this issue we show the range of renovation work and how museums are -positioning themselves for the future. A short time ago Fotomuseum Winterthur occupied its new extension as well as the redesigned education spaces in the fundamentally renovated building. In Schloss Rapperswil the newly built circulation system has led to a fresh concept for the castle museum. We also show the spectacular collection presentation in the archive of the Victoria and Albert Museum in London. And, of course, we also show a good example from Paris: at the end of September the Centre Pompidou closed its doors for more than five years. We show what is being changed there. — Roland Züger