The French culture ministry has announced that three of France’s most visited museums—the Musée du Louvre, the Musée d’Orsay and the Château de Versailles—will be open seven days a week from November. The traditional day of closure (Monday for the Orsay and Versailles, Tuesday for the Louvre) will be reserved for educational groups and disabled visitors. These visits will remain free, and around 70 extra staff members are due to be appointed across the three institutions to cover the expanded hours. The measure has proved controversial. The trade union CGT, which had opposed the proposed extension of opening hours to the general public, staged a strike at the Orsay as we went to press.
