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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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Viking Ship Navigating Seafarers’ Ancient Routes Berths in Adriatic 

A full-size archaeological reconstruction of a 10th-century Viking knarr "Saga Farmann" on its years-long expedition through European rivers, channels and seas, is berthed in Port of Bar, Montenegro, July 20, 2024. (Reuters)
A full-size archaeological reconstruction of a 10th-century Viking knarr "Saga Farmann" on its years-long expedition through European rivers, channels and seas, is berthed in Port of Bar, Montenegro, July 20, 2024. (Reuters)
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Viking Ship Navigating Seafarers’ Ancient Routes Berths in Adriatic 

A full-size archaeological reconstruction of a 10th-century Viking knarr "Saga Farmann" on its years-long expedition through European rivers, channels and seas, is berthed in Port of Bar, Montenegro, July 20, 2024. (Reuters)
A full-size archaeological reconstruction of a 10th-century Viking knarr "Saga Farmann" on its years-long expedition through European rivers, channels and seas, is berthed in Port of Bar, Montenegro, July 20, 2024. (Reuters)

A replica Viking ship has berthed in Montenegro's Adriatic port of Bar on a years-long trip through European waters inspired by the Norse seafarers who set out from Scandinavia to explore, trade and conquer a millennium ago.

The ship, Saga Farmann, is a full-size archaeological reconstruction of a 10th-century Viking cargo vessel, or knarr, made from oak and pine, which was found in Norway as early as 1893 but only excavated in the 1970s.

"This is the type of ship that would travel to Iceland, or Greenland, even North America," said Linda Sten Vagnes, one of the journey's leaders.

The trip, set to end in 2026, was originally planned to follow the Norwegian coast into the White Sea off northern Russia and the Volga River, but it was rerouted to follow the rivers of Europe from West to East.

"We had to the change the route because of the war (in Ukraine)," Sten Vagnes said.

The Viking age, spanning the 8th to 11th centuries AD, saw Norsemen journey from Scandinavia aboard timber longships to stage raids, trade and settle across a wide region, including North America, using their mastery of maritime technology.

The Saga Farman's journey, which started in 2023, was inspired by the sagas about Vikings who travelled to Constantinople, capital of the-then Byzantine empire.

It took years of hard work by enthusiasts, with the support of the governments of Denmark and Norway, to make an exact copy of a knarr. The vessel was launched in 2018, said Axel Hubert Persvik, a ship builder.

"It takes a long time because most of craft we do is by hand, ... it takes many hours to build it."

At the latest leg of the trip, the 21 meters (69 ft)-long and five meters (16 ft)-wide ship sailed from the Aegean Sea into the Adriatic, said Zander Simpson, the ship's captain.

"The next stage of the trip is around Italy, Sicily ... to stay in Rome this winter, before next year's stage which will take her up the Italian coast, the French Riviera ... to Paris."

In addition to sails and oars, the Saga Farmann has four electric motors to propel it upwind and upstream. More than three tons of batteries are stored onboard where they serve for propulsion and as ballast.