Popular enthusiasm for the 2024 Paris Olympics has defied the most pessimistic predictions, with the exception of a drop in attendance at Parisian museums in July and August: − 14% at the Louvre, − 28% at the Pompidou Centre, − 26% at the Orsay… Located in the Olympic zone of La Concorde, the Hôtel de la Marine even shows a drop of 50%. Only two sites resisted the general decline: the Catacombs, which were packed with 53,000 visitors in July and August – the same figure as in 2023 – and the Basilica of Saint-Denis (Seine-Saint-Denis), where the Olympic flame ended its journey on Friday 26 July. Attendance there increased by 50%, for the first time.
However, this is not to tarnish the precious – and fragile – moment of collective happiness that the Paralympic Games offer. “It is not an irremediable decline, but a cyclical one, and let us remember that 2023 was an exceptional year”puts Sylvain Amic, president of the Musée d’Orsay, into perspective.
The same philosophy was followed by the Palace of Versailles, which was still under requisition for the Paralympic Games, which saw its number of visitors drop by 25% during the Olympic fortnight and, in general, by 16% in July and August. “But it’s shooting up again”said its president, Christophe Leribault. Visitors also returned to the Orangerie at the end of the Olympic Games. “With an above-normal peak of 3,916 visitors on August 12”says its director, Claire Bernardi.
A much younger audience
Everywhere, another public has replaced the usual cultural tourists. A much younger public, according to a study carried out this summer at the Musée Carnavalet, the Musée d’Art Moderne, the Petit Palais, the Palais Galliera and the archaeological crypt on the Île de la Cité. “Something unique happened with a happy, light and positive audience”insists Annick Lemoine, director of the Petit Palais, where over-60s represent only 8% of visitors, compared to 20% in the first half of the year.
At the Army Museum in Les Invalides, the number of visitors fell by 24% during the Olympic Games. But the exhibition “Duels. The Art of Combat”, which ended on Sunday 18 August, found its audience, “with 600 visitors per day – compared to the usual average of 400 – the day after the fencing events at the Grand Palais”greets its conservation director, Sylvie Leluc.
Encouraged by the recovery seen since the end of August, institutions hope to return to normality this autumn. Key exhibitions such as “Surrealism” at the Centre Pompidou, “Caillebotte. Painting Men” at the Musée d’Orsay or the extensive collection of the art dealer Heinz Berggruen (1914-2007) at the Orangerie should warm up the box office. “A new cultural tourism will be born from the imagination that emanated from the Olympic Games”predicts Anne-Sophie de Gasquet, president of the Paris Museums, which oversees fourteen Parisian establishments.
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