ARTS AND ENTERTAINMENT Plans To Complete The Louvre

Press, Volume CVI, Issue 31247, 20 December 1966, Page 15

ARTS AND ENTERTAINMENT Plans To Complete The Louvre

Much of the Louvre and its surroundings gives the impression these days of being a large building site, writes a Paris correspondent of “The Times.” Cleaning operations, which have already removed the grime from the greater part of the palace, are still under way in the remaining black spot.

Elaborate restoration is being carried out in the Pavillion de Flore, at the end of the wing which stretches along the river, while the whole area around the east front is surrounded by hoarding.

The Louvre will eventually

emerge transformed from all these operations. The cleaning has revealed, as elsewhere in Paris, the rich honey-colour of its stone, and given a new life to its more ornate parts, submerged until now under the deadening grime. Restoration is bringing back into use parts of the palace which have been maltreated or abandoned for too long. It is not intended, however, to confine the operations to restoration. The digging and construction which are going on at the east front are seen as completing work which was planned in the time of Louis XIV, but' never carried out

When the work has been completed—by next April if all goes according to plan—it will show off the facade designed by Perrault and Le Vau in the way in which it was originally intended, and for the first time.

TO BE MAGNIFICENT The east facade was the main entrance to the Louvre in the time of Louis XIV, and he wanted it to be particularly magnificent. It has a line of double pillars surmounted by a triangular pediment. It was the architect’s original intention, however, that the whole front should be set off by a ditch, making it seem that much higher. There was to have been a

bridge leading across to the gateway in the middle of the facade.

It is this that, following the instructions of Andre Malraux, the Minister of State for Cultural Affairs, the present operations will create. Excavations have been carried out into the ground immediately in front of the facade, and the ditch will soon have been cleared. The bridge is already in place, with its stonework balustrade, and the main work still to be done is to demolish the remains of previous foundations, found in the course of excavation. When the whole facade was originally built, the lower

part, which was to remain covered by earth and debris for centuries afterwards, was built as if to be exposed to view.

Recent work has not, therefore, had to do more than refurbish it, and the main piece of construction has been the new wall on the other side of the ditch. This has still to be finished, and the bottom of the ditch has to be smoothed. It has then to be covered over with grass or gravel, and will form part of the open space now being planned between the Louvre and the old church of Saint-Gennain-L’Auxerrois.

There is already a little cluster of trees in the little square there: when the present operations have been completed, there will also be a wide promenade along the front of the east facade, separated from it by the new ditch.

This is something, it is felt, of which Louis XIV would have approved. Saint-Ger-main-L’Auxerrois had long been in existence in his day, but it was cut off from the Louvre by a jumble of houses. Now there will be an open space where the houses were, and the impressive east facade will be seen as it was intended to be. Meanwhile the restoration of the Pavilion de Flore, at the other end of the sprawling palace, continues. This was only recovered from the Ministry of Finance in 1961, and it was regarded as urgently needing to be put in order.

Two or three years’ more work will be needed before it will be able to receive the exhibits planned for it—-

sculpture, paintings and drawings. It will have a new laboratory for work needed by the museum.

There are also plans to take advantage of the height of the Pavilion de Flore and construct a terrace from which it will be possible to have a magnificent view of the surroundings. A snack bar will be installed. FOR THE FUTURE

Covetous glances are often cast from the Museum of the Louvre at the wing on the other side of the Cour du Carrousel, which has been occupied since the end of the last century by the Ministry of Economy and Finance. Many people would be happy to see the civil servants leave the Louvre for good. This does not seem to be a possibility for the moment, however, and there are even senior member's of the museum stafi: who feel that the addition of the part now occupied by the Ministry would make the museum altogether too vast. There is, though, an ambitious plan, not yet authorised, for a complete transformation of the Cour du Carrousel. At present this contains two small gardens, one of which has an equestrian statue of the Marquis de Lafayette. The idea is to get rid of these two gardens entirely, and lower the level of the whole space by five metres (about 16ft). Gardens in French style would then be planted in the centre, while the surroundin;’ area, immediately beneath the walls of the palace, would be used for an underground car park and a number of other purposes needed by the museum.

MOVING CARS One of the dreams of the architects planning this is to remove all the cars which now crowd the Cour du Carrousel from sight. The whole project is, however, an expensive one, involving perhaps £2 million or more, and before it is embarked upon there are other lesser plans to be carried out. The upper floors of the Cour Carre still have to be put in order, and there is a plan for developing the Cour le Fuel. This is a pleasant interior courtyard, with a double staircase and a fountain. It is planned to put down grass in it, and to have a restaurant along one of its walls.

Work on the Louvre, begun many centuries ago, still continues.