A new voice is heard against the decision to close the museums of the city of Strasbourg two days a week. The former Minister of Culture Jack Lang denounced this decision in a tweet posted Tuesday, September 27.
An “unjustified” decision
The former minister, at the origin of the Fête de la Musique and defender of the unique book prize, believes that “the decision of the Mayor of Strasbourg is totally unjustified.” From October 3, the eight museums run by the city will close either on Monday and Wednesday, or on Tuesday and Thursday. They will also close during the lunch break.
He supports the position held by the current Minister of Culture, Rima Abdul Malak, who explained that he did not understand this choice. “There are a thousand ways to deal with this question without going so far as to close cultural places, whether for one more day or more, and depriving the public of access to works, of access to the culture which is DNA and the cultural strength of our country and even of a city like Strasbourg which has always been a city of museums, a European city of culture“. The minister also announced an increase in the budget of his ministry for the year 2023.
A bequest of 5 million euros abandoned
This extension would also have participated in the abandonment of an important legacy according to information from the site La Tribune de l’art. Mairie-Claire Ballabio, a collector who has already donated her works to the city’s museums in 2019, had planned to bequeath all one’s fortune, estimated at 5 million euros, to top up an endowment fund for the Museum of Fine Arts. She recently modified her will, to abandon this project. She denounces, in addition to this closure two days a week, poor conservation conditions for her works, which the director of Strasbourg museums denies.
In city council, the mayor of Strasbourg defended her decision. A “emergency measure” according to Jeanne Barseghian, to reduce the energy bill and avoid increasing the price of tickets.