Paris museums to open all week

FRANCE’S most visited museums, the Louvre, Chateau de Versailles and the Musée d’Orsay are set to open seven days a week in a move that will be a boost for tourism.

The museums are currently closed Mondays or Tuesdays and Culture Minister Fleur Pellerin said the move was designed to “better welcome the public and make the works more accessible”.

Announcing the plan as part of the government’s 2015 culture budget, she said extra staff would be employed and the project would be self-funding thanks to the additional ticket sales.

Full-time opening would start sometime between 2015 and 2017 if the new measures are agreed after consultation with unions and other parties.

Despite opening for only six days a week, the Louvre is currently the world’s most visited museum, with 9.2 million visitors a year, while the Chateau de Versailles welcomes 7m and the Musée d’Orsay 3.5m.

The seven-day opening plan would bring France’s leading museums into line with others globally as the London museums are open all week, Madrid’s Prado Museum started opening every day in 2011 and the key museums in New York followed suit last year.

Photo: Guillaume Cattiaux