at a steering committee in April 2023
The flooding in the library of the Department of Egyptian Antiquities, which we revealed yesterday (see the article) and which Le Canard Enchaîné confirmed, quoting us, in fact conceals another scandal: the abandonment, in 2023, of an already highly advanced project to create a major library bringing together the holdings of the four departments of antiquities (Egypt, Greece and Rome, Near Eastern Antiquities, and Byzantine and Eastern Christian Antiquities) and of the Department of Islamic Antiquities, to which would have been added the collection donated in 2022 by the Société nationale des antiquaires de France (SNAF).
Since the departure of the Bibliothèque centrale des musées nationaux to the library of the INHA (in 2015–2016), each department has rebuilt its own library related to its field of study. This was the case for Greek and Roman Antiquities, but not for Egyptian Antiquities nor Near Eastern Antiquities, since these two fields are not covered by the INHA — nor, for that matter, are the Arts of Islam (the department, created in 2003, established its own nearby library). In 2016, a new library, known as the Lefuel Library, bringing together these four collections, though each managed autonomously, was created in premises opening onto the Lefuel Wing, the very spaces that were partly flooded.
But the Lefuel Library, in addition to not meeting conservation standards, very quickly reached full capacity and cannot accommodate external researchers in satisfactory conditions. It was for these reasons that the project entitled “Bibliothèques Sully Sud” (ill. 1) was decided upon, to transfer these collections — while preserving their separate management by department — into new premises located on the upper floors of the south wing of the Cour Carrée, on the former sites of the Bibliothèque centrale des musées nationaux and the Archives des musées nationaux (now held at the Archives nationales).
steering committee document
The project was fairly advanced. In April 2023 (ill. 2), the planned schedule was as follows: work was to begin in January 2024, the libraries were to complete their installation at the end of 2025, and the opening to take place at the beginning of 2026. It is difficult to assert that this would have prevented the flooding of 27 November, as such building works often encounter delays. But nothing was done to prevent it and — as with the impact of the postponement of the master plans on the theft of the Crown jewels — one is entitled to wonder.
Why was this project cancelled? We shall not know, for the Louvre, as usual, did not answer our questions. One may therefore legitimately think that, once again, the aim was to economise in order to fund the “Grande Colonnade” project, the only one that now appears to interest the museum’s presidency.
Perhaps this project for new libraries was not perfect, notably because they were to be installed in a location that had originally been intended to be transformed into exhibition rooms for French painting, far too much of which remains in storage. Let us add that it did not appeal to all the curators, some finding the libraries too far from their workplaces. Above all, installing these libraries in the Sully Wing seemed to pose technical problems due to the weight of the books. If this is accurate — although let us recall that the Bibliothèque centrale des musées nationaux was located there before being moved to the INHA — it would tend to prove that the structural fragility of this wing, which seemed to have been “discovered” during the recent closure of the Campana Gallery and the offices above it, had in fact been known for a long time.
Be that as it may, the diagnosis established in 2021–2022 — poor conservation conditions, saturation, and the need to accommodate external researchers — should have imposed the search for a solution to modernise and enlarge these libraries. The entire project was cancelled (without this cancellation ever being officially announced), which has led to the present situation.