CLASS:Art Appreciation
ARTICLE:The New York Times, February 19, 2003
TITLE:Fearing a Big Flood, Paris Moves Art by Alan Riding
SUMMARY OF ARTICLE
Global warming has not only affected the United States bringing unusual weather patterns this season but other countries as well. On February 18 in Paris, the museum industry started the 'largest relocation of artworks in France since World War II.' They are moving about '100,000 statues, paintings, drawings, sculptures, books and other valuable objects from underground storage rooms that would be expected to flood if the River Seine were to rise to or beyond the record level of twenty-eight feet.' The cause of flooding could be from the River Seine or even just rising groundwater, and flooding of the drainage and sewer system.
Most of the art will be moved to a secret location north of Paris and the author noted that this is as a result of the floods that swept across Europe last summer, damaging museums in Dresden, Germany and Prague.
No Mans Land, Flanders Field, France, 1919 (LOC)
The Arc de Triomphe (Arch of Triumph), at the cent...
Paris Sunset from the Louvre windowIn 1910, there was flooding in France and although many of the collections were not affected, it is feared that if flooding occurred now they would not be so lucky. This is due to the fact that back then they did not have such complex storage in the basements and lower floors of the museum as they do today. The author listed the museums moving their treasures and this included Musée d'Orsay, the Louvre, the Georges Pompidou Center, the Carnavalet Museum, and the Modern Art Museum of the City of Paris to name but a few. Even though the artwork is moved, there could be other problems caused by the flooding because many laboratories, archives and workshops still remain in the basements stocked with equipment that would be impossible to move without disturbing the...