Protests in France against the alleged selling out of the Louvre

Paris - Already over 1100 French art historians, museum workers, and other cultural figures have signed a petition to maintain the integrity of French museum collections and against their commercial use abroad. Their concern is particularly aroused by the advanced project of building a museum under the Louvre name in Abu Dhabi, where the most famous museum and other French institutions would lend some of their works from their collections in the long term. The project's value is reportedly at least 500 million, but possibly up to a billion euros (14 to 28 billion crowns).
"Isn't this 'selling one's soul'?" asks the petition initiated by the honorary director of the state institution Musées de France Françoise Cachin. She also criticizes the recent opening of the "Louvre wing" in a museum in Atlanta and the plan to build an offshoot of the Paris Pompidou Center for Modern Art in Shanghai.
The Louvre has now lent a number of paintings to Atlanta for the long term, including one by Raphael and one by Poussin, in exchange for thirteen million euros. Rodin's museum has also lent its name and its experts to the museum in São Salvador da Bahia in Brazil, for which Rodin's sculptures are to be cast from existing molds.
The project in Abu Dhabi is set to be officially signed within a few weeks. The French will provide the United Arab Emirates (UAE) with all assistance in creating the museum's concept. According to the newspaper Libération, it is expected that 400 to 500 paintings, sculptures, and other works of art from the Paris Louvre and other French museums will gradually go to "Louvre Abu Dhabi" through long-term loans. Participation in the operation will be voluntary.
The newspaper attributes a political and commercial undertone to the entire operation. How could one possibly refuse something like this to a country that ordered over 40 giant Airbus A380s? (The catalog price of each aircraft is about 300 million dollars.) The signatories of the petition also raise the question of whether works that form a fundamental part of the national heritage should be lent abroad on a long-term basis and for payment due to political and diplomatic considerations.
The current director of Musées de France, Francine Mariani-Ducray, stated that all the debate surrounding "Louvre Abu Dhabi" stems from a lack of information and that the project is balanced.
Former culture minister Jack Lang also considers the controversy unnecessary. "We should be proud of the presence of the Louvre abroad. It's good that in this current global cultural war we strive for our concept to be present," he declared.
French museums have been lending their works abroad for the long term since the days of former culture minister André Malraux in the 1960s. In 1962, for example, the famous Leonardo's Mona Lisa traveled from the Louvre to the United States. It only traveled abroad again in 1974, to Japan with a stop in the then Soviet Union, which required this due to the fact that it was flying over its territory.
The Louvre is the most visited museum in the world. In 2005, 7.5 million people visited it, and this year eight million are expected. In addition to expanding abroad, it is also branching out domestically. Its offshoot is currently being built in Lens in the north of the country.