Today the Louvre was forced to close owing to a staff strike

Today the Louvre was forced to close owing to a staff strike. The strike is the outcome of a mounting crisis that began several months ago, after the leak of a letter from the museum's director, Laurence des Cars, to the French Minister of Culture. In it she warned of the museum's catastrophic condition and the threat to the safety of its collections, and demanded urgent funding for renovation.

President Macron responded by announcing a large-scale reconstruction of the Louvre by 2031. Laurence des Cars, however, declared that she was not prepared to wait six years: in her words, it is now not only the holdings of the nation's foremost museum that are at risk, but the safety of its staff.

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September digest: archaeological finds, exhibitions, museums, theatre and the Church

In the finale of the Strugatskys' Roadside Picnic, the Golden Ball is told: "Happiness for everybody, free, and let nobody go away unsatisfied!" I do not promise to offend nobody, but the digest really does come free of charge. So, here is the main business of the

Frederic Leighton

Frederic Leighton. “Daedalus and Icarus”, 1869 Daedalus warns his son not to climb too high: the heat of the sun may melt the wax, but Icarus is already gazing into the distance, and the lamentations of a foolish old man interest him not in the least

Today the Louvre was forced to close owing to a staff strike

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September digest: archaeological finds, exhibitions, museums, theatre and the Church

Frederic Leighton

Attempts to resolve the problems of many years of uncontrolled mass migration

Characters from Gogol's "Petersburg Tales" on the pedestal of the monument to Nikolai Gogol on Nikitsky Boulevard, photograph of the 1960s