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Louvre in Paris Offers Olympic Sport Sessions as Part of Cultural Program

People take part in a rehearsal of "Les visites sportives", an experience proposed by artist and choreographer Mehdi Kerkouche in the Cour Marly at the Louvre Museum in Paris on April 23, 2024. (Photo by Thomas SAMSON / AFP)
People take part in a rehearsal of "Les visites sportives", an experience proposed by artist and choreographer Mehdi Kerkouche in the Cour Marly at the Louvre Museum in Paris on April 23, 2024. (Photo by Thomas SAMSON / AFP)
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Louvre in Paris Offers Olympic Sport Sessions as Part of Cultural Program

People take part in a rehearsal of "Les visites sportives", an experience proposed by artist and choreographer Mehdi Kerkouche in the Cour Marly at the Louvre Museum in Paris on April 23, 2024. (Photo by Thomas SAMSON / AFP)
People take part in a rehearsal of "Les visites sportives", an experience proposed by artist and choreographer Mehdi Kerkouche in the Cour Marly at the Louvre Museum in Paris on April 23, 2024. (Photo by Thomas SAMSON / AFP)

The Louvre museum in Paris has announced that it planned to organize yoga and sport sessions in its famed galleries as part of a city-wide cultural program ahead of the Olympics.

The world's biggest museum is to offer visitors the chance to take part in dance, yoga and work-out sessions with instructors and coaches while gazing upon its world-renowned paintings and sculptures.

The announcement was one of several on Tuesday aimed at whipping up Olympic enthusiasm ahead of the start of the Games in Paris on July 26.

"The Louvre is physically in the center of Paris. It will be physically at the center of the Olympic Games," museum chief Laurence des Cars told reporters.

Details of the special sessions and the museum's new Olympics-themed exhibition are available on its website.

The opening ceremony is set to take place on the river Seine which runs past the Louvre. A temporary stadium to host the skateboarding and breakdancing is being built on the nearby Place de la Concorde. The Olympic flame is also set to burn in the neighboring Tuileries gardens, a security source has told AFP.

Four other art destinations, including the Musee d'Orsay, the home of impressionist masterpieces, are also set to put on Olympic-related sports or cultural activities.

Also on Tuesday, the Paris city hall unveiled its plans for public sports facilities, concerts and open-air fan areas around the City of the Light for the duration of the Olympics and Paralympics.

A total of 26 fanzones will be created around the capital, in addition to two special celebration areas in central and northeastern Paris where medal winners will be encouraged to greet the public.

"For the first time in the history of the Games, the host city is aiming to create a people's Games where Olympic enthusiasm can be shared at both the event sites but also outside of the stadiums, in the heart of the city, in each district," the mayor's office said in a press statement.

A new Olympic transport mobile phone application was also made available for the first time on Tuesday by the regional transport authority.

Visitors to Paris will be encouraged to use the "Transport public Paris 2024" app, which will guide them to Olympic destinations using real-time information on traffic and user numbers.

The developers said that suggested routes would not necessarily be "the shortest or the quickest" but would be the most suitable and ensure that travelers are divided among different transport options.

Overcrowding on the Paris underground train network is a particular concern ahead of the Games, while local politicians have urged Parisians to walk or use bikes.

The first Olympics in Paris in 100 years are set to take place from July 26-August 11 followed by the Paralympics from August 28-September 8.

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Culture

Malaysian Rice Porridge a ‘Trademark’ Ramadan Tradition

This picture taken on March 5, 2025 shows an Indian Muslim mixing ingredients to prepare the popular dish "bubur lambuk" at Masjid India during the Muslim holy fasting month of Ramadan in Kuala Lumpur. (AFP)
This picture taken on March 5, 2025 shows an Indian Muslim mixing ingredients to prepare the popular dish "bubur lambuk" at Masjid India during the Muslim holy fasting month of Ramadan in Kuala Lumpur. (AFP)
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Malaysian Rice Porridge a ‘Trademark’ Ramadan Tradition

This picture taken on March 5, 2025 shows an Indian Muslim mixing ingredients to prepare the popular dish "bubur lambuk" at Masjid India during the Muslim holy fasting month of Ramadan in Kuala Lumpur. (AFP)
This picture taken on March 5, 2025 shows an Indian Muslim mixing ingredients to prepare the popular dish "bubur lambuk" at Masjid India during the Muslim holy fasting month of Ramadan in Kuala Lumpur. (AFP)

As dusk fell, hundreds of Muslims at a mosque in the Malaysian capital of Kuala Lumpur feast on bowls of fragrant rice porridge known locally as "bubur lambuk", part of a Ramadan tradition dating back decades.

Slow-cooked with various spices in giant pots and stirred with oversized ladles, bubur lambuk is traditionally prepared by volunteers in mosque courtyards before being distributed to the public for iftar, the fast-breaking meal in the largely Islamic nation.

But the broth, specially prepared at Masjid India, a well-known Kuala Lumpur mosque, serves a unique version of the porridge using a recipe originating from India.

"This tradition has been passed down from generation to generation, from the 60s to the 70," he told AFP.

"So it has become a trademark. If it (Nombu Kanji) wasn't there, it wouldn't be complete."

Mosque volunteers use 140 kilograms (308 pounds) of rice daily to cook the porridge, which is served in bowls to prayer attendees or packed into 1,000 large plastic packets to be distributed to the public.

Each packet is enough to feed a family of four.

"From the perspective of making things easier for the people in this area, sometimes the homeless who struggle to get food, low-income workers, and office workers who sometimes don't have time to go home and cook benefit from this," he said.

"So, the preparation of iftar meals by mosques helps make their daily lives more convenient (during Ramadan)."

Mohaiyadin Sahulhameed, a local resident originally from India, said the porridge served at the mosque reminded him of home.

"Back in our village, the way we cook is using large woks, with curry leaves, mustard seeds, cinnamon, and all sorts of ingredients mixed together. When combined with rice, it creates a rich aroma, quite similar to how it's done here," he said.

The mosque's cook, Sathakkathullah Hameed, said he saw preparing the large pots of porridge daily as a religious calling.

"During this fasting month, I want to help others. Allah grants rewards, mercy, and blessings, and, God willing, He will provide sustenance," he said.

"And when people eat the porridge I cook, they say 'Bismillah,' (in the name of God) and I respond with 'Alhamdulillah' (praise be to God)."