Almost all cultural institutions and museums were closed down in Paris because of the COVID-19 restrictions in 2020, and openings were postponed or delayed for over a year. That said, most COVID-related restrictions were lifted on May 19, 2021, and almost every cultural institution and museum has reopened.
Included in the spate of museum relaunches, a new, significant museum has finally opened, and another established museum has reopened after an extensive and long-delayed renovation.
Bourse de Commerce Museum – Pinault Collection
Not to be outdone by his business arch-rival Bernard Arnault, the head of LVMH, Francoise Pinault of the Kering Group, which owns the fashion brands Gucci, Yves Saint Laurent and Balenciaga, has opened his own museum, Bourse de Commerce. Both billionaire titans have amassed incredible and diverse contemporary art collections and chose to start their own museums rather than donate their collections to other art institutions.
Bourse de Commerce Museum is housed in the former wheat exchange of Paris. The handsome, circular structure was constructed between 1763 and 1767 and used for the storing and selling of wheat on the edge of Les Halles, the sprawling wholesale food market of the city at the time. It later became the Paris Commodities Exchange and in 1886 there was a major reconstruction and renovation, which included the installation of four Corinthian columns, three allegorical sculptures and several frescoes painted by renowned artists of the time. These sculptures and frescoes were classified as a historic monument and have been retained in the present museum.
Pinault negotiated a 50-year lease of the building in 2016 to display a large portion of his 10,000-plus-piece art collection, with an estimated worth of $1.45 billion. Architect Tadao Ando was commissioned to build a 30-foot-high concrete cylinder, which contains the main exhibition space of the museum, measuring close to 75,000 square feet.
The premiere exhibition at the Bourse de Commerce Museum is a series of 13 shows by various international artists, including Rudolf Stingel, Tarek Atoui, Philippe Parreno, Urs Fischer and Bertrand Lavier.
Award-winning chefs Michel and Sébastien Bras have opened Le Halle Aux Grains Restaurant on the third floor.
The museum is located in between the Louvre and Les Halles district, close to hotels on the rue de Rivoli and rue Saint Honoré.
Visit www.pinaultcollection.com.
Carnavalet Museum
In 1866, two former palaces from the 17th century, in the historic Marais district, were converted into the Carnavalet Museum, a comprehensive and large-scale museum about the history of Paris.
In 2016, the full contents of the museum were removed, and in 2017 a massive renovation and restructuring of the interior and exterior began. The museum opened on May 22 and retains an astounding collection of over 618,000 items, including artifacts, paintings, sculptures, shop signs, scale models of old Paris, photographs, furniture, historic, decorated rooms, posters, drawings and engravings.
Besides the redesign of the main galleries, hallways and vestibules, to make them more accessible to control the traffic flow, two new entrance rooms have been installed. The rooms contain important facts and figures about Paris, the history of the contents of the museum, and its major donors. Another new addition is the lower-level gallery, which exhibits collections that range from the Mesolithic Era (9000 to 6000 B.C.) to the mid-16th century.
From June 15, 2021, the Carnavalet will feature a temporary exhibition, Henri Cartier-Bresson, Revoir, a series of iconic, black and white photos from one of the greatest photographers to capture the spirit of Paris.
The museum will soon open a café in the beautiful, formal garden courtyard.
Visit www.carnavalet.paris.fr
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