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CULTURE

Keep-fit in the Louvre: Museum offers Olympic sessions among masterpieces

The Louvre museum in Paris announced plans to organise yoga and sport sessions in its galleries as part of a city-wide cultural programme ahead of the Olympics.

Published: 24 April 2024 09:11 CEST
People take part in a rehearsal of
People take part in a rehearsal of "Les visites sportives", in the Cour Marly at the Louvre Museum in Paris. (Photo by Thomas SAMSON / AFP)

The world’s biggest museum is to offer visitors the chance to take part in dance, yoga and work-out sessions while gazing upon its world-renowned paintings and sculptures.

The announcement was one of several on Tuesday aimed at whipping up Olympic enthusiasm ahead of the start of the Games in Paris on July 26th.

“The Louvre is physically in the centre of Paris. It will be physically at the centre of the Olympic Games,” museum chief Laurence des Cars told reporters.

Details of the special sessions and the museum’s new Olympics-themed exhibition are available on its website.

The opening ceremony is set to take place on the river Seine which runs past the Louvre. A temporary stadium to host the skateboarding and breakdancing is being built on the nearby Place de la Concorde. The Olympic flame is also set to burn in the neighbouring Tuileries gardens, a security source told AFP.

Four other art destinations, including the Musee d’Orsay, the home of impressionist masterpieces, are also set to put on Olympic-related sports or cultural activities.

Paris City Hall unveiled plans for public sports facilities, concerts and open-air fan areas around the City of the Light for the duration of the Olympics and Paralympics.

A total of 26 fanzones will be created around the capital, in addition to two special celebration areas in central and northeastern Paris, where medal winners will be encouraged to greet the public.

“For the first time in the history of the Games, the host city is aiming to create a people’s Games where Olympic enthusiasm can be shared at both the event sites but also outside of the stadiums, in the heart of the city, in each district,” the mayor’s office said in a statement.

A new Olympic transport mobile phone application was also made available for the first time on Tuesday by the regional transport authority.

Visitors to Paris will be encouraged to use the “Transport public Paris 2024” app, which will guide them to Olympic destinations using real-time information on traffic and user numbers.

The developers said that suggested routes would not necessarily be, “the shortest or the quickest”, but would be the most suitable and ensure that travellers have a choice of different transport options.

Overcrowding on the Paris underground train network is a particular concern ahead of the Games, while local politicians have urged Parisians to walk or use bikes.

The first Olympics in Paris in 100 years are set to take place from July 26th to August 11th followed by the Paralympics from August 28th to September 8th.

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PARIS 2024 OLYMPICS

Airbnb promises to combat sex work in rentals during Paris Games

Airbnb on Friday agreed with French authorities to step up the fight against rentals on its platform being used for sex work during the Paris Olympics this summer and beyond.

Published: 4 May 2024 09:00 CEST
Airbnb promises to combat sex work in rentals during Paris Games

The home rental platform signed a convention with MIPROF, a government organisation tasked with protecting women from violence, and fighting human trafficking, the French body said.

“Although such incidents are rare compared to the number of reservations, Airbnb commits, through this long-term collaboration, to supporting efforts made by the industry and the authorities to put an end to exploitation and human trafficking,” the platform said in a statement sent to AFP, saying it would pay close attention to the possible use of rented homes for sex work.

Among efforts to raise awareness among renters, Airbnb and MIPROF said they had compiled a “guide for the responsible traveller” to help them recognise signs of exploitation or human trafficking going on in the building or neighbourhood where they are staying.

MIPROF said it would dispatch teams to assist Airbnb, which in turn promised to strengthen its cooperation with police and the judiciary.

“This convention with Airbnb is major, given its central position in the tourism industry,” MIPROF’s secretary-general, Roxana Maracineanu, was quoted as saying in the statement.

Maracineanu, a former sports minister, had already warned at the end of last year that there was a “heightened risk” of human trafficking during the Olympics, and that the government needed to send a “clear and strong message” to traffickers.

Hotels were already vigilant concerning prostitution on their premises, she told AFP in December. She said the worry was “prostitution in homes, inside apartments”.

Police in several countries have identified a preference by sex workers and pimps for short-term rentals, including on Airbnb, because they offer more discretion than hotels.

Although prostitution remains legal in France, the purchase of sexual services was criminalised in 2016, allowing for the prosecution of clients. Pimping and brothels have been illegal for decades.

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