Paris Museums Getting into Olympic Groove

A man stands between artworks entitled "The Biglin Brothers Racing" (L) and "John Biglin in a Single Scull" by American artist Thomas Eakins at Musee Marmottan Monet, in Paris, France, 03 April 2024. (EPA)
A man stands between artworks entitled "The Biglin Brothers Racing" (L) and "John Biglin in a Single Scull" by American artist Thomas Eakins at Musee Marmottan Monet, in Paris, France, 03 April 2024. (EPA)
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Paris Museums Getting into Olympic Groove

A man stands between artworks entitled "The Biglin Brothers Racing" (L) and "John Biglin in a Single Scull" by American artist Thomas Eakins at Musee Marmottan Monet, in Paris, France, 03 April 2024. (EPA)
A man stands between artworks entitled "The Biglin Brothers Racing" (L) and "John Biglin in a Single Scull" by American artist Thomas Eakins at Musee Marmottan Monet, in Paris, France, 03 April 2024. (EPA)

Between events, the 14 million visitors expected in Paris during the Olympics will have the opportunity to nourish their minds in thematic exhibitions listed on the official application called "La Carte des Jeux" ("The Games Map").

During the 2012 London Games, museums in the British capital suffered s significant drop in attendance but Paris is hoping visitors will combine sports and arts from July 26-Aug. 11.

"In Paris, the configuration is very different: many events take place in the city - Concorde, Invalides, Grand Palais. So people will come out of their competition and immediately be close to a cultural place," Dominique Hervieu, the director of culture at Paris 2024, told Reuters.

A number of museums are staging sports-themed exhibitions over the next few months.

The Marmottan-Monet museum will be running an "Artists and sport, 1870-1930" exhibition until September featuring Claude Monet's "Regates at Argenteuil" and works by Gustave Caillebotte and Paul Signac, an eminent yachtsman of his time.

The Louvre, the most visited museum in the world, unveils an exhibition called "Olympism" on April 24.

Two days later, the Immigration museum will show "Olympism, a history of the world", which will highlight "the struggles in favor of equality, against racism and discrimination".

Among the many other cultural events are a grand ball on June 22 at the Orsay Museum reminiscent of the one organized during the 1924 Olympics in Paris and an exhibition of old photographs in the Tuileries gardens.



UN Puts 4th Century Gaza Monastery on Endangered Site List

The Saint Hilarion complex dates back to the fourth century. Mahmud HAMS / AFP/File
The Saint Hilarion complex dates back to the fourth century. Mahmud HAMS / AFP/File
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UN Puts 4th Century Gaza Monastery on Endangered Site List

The Saint Hilarion complex dates back to the fourth century. Mahmud HAMS / AFP/File
The Saint Hilarion complex dates back to the fourth century. Mahmud HAMS / AFP/File

The Saint Hilarion complex, one of the oldest monasteries in the Middle East, has been put on the UNESCO list of World Heritage sites in danger due to the war in Gaza, the body said Friday.
UNESCO said the site, which dates back to the fourth century, had been put on the endangered list at the demand of Palestinian authorities and cited the "imminent threats" it faced.
"It's the only recourse to protect the site from destruction in the current context," Lazare Eloundou Assomo, director of the UNESCO World Heritage Centre, told AFP, referring to the war sparked by Hamas's October 7 attack on Israel.
In December, the UNESCO Committee for the Protection of Cultural Property in the Event of Armed Conflict decided to grant "provisional enhanced protection" -- the highest level of immunity established by the 1954 Hague Convention -- to the site.
UNESCO had then said it was "already concerned about the state of conservation of sites, before October 7, due to the lack of adequate policies to protect heritage and culture" in Gaza.
The Hamas attack on October 7 resulted in the deaths of 1,197 people in Israel, most of them civilians, according to an AFP tally based on official Israeli figures.
Israel's retaliatory offensive against Hamas has killed at least 39,175 Palestinians in Gaza, according to the Hamas-run territory's health ministry, which does not give details of civilian and militant deaths.