Paris museums getting into the Olympic groove

In the lead-up to the Paris Olympics, due to start on July 26, the French capital will stage a series of sports-themed exhibitions to offer some 14 million visitors a comprehensive experience of sports and arts.

The Louvre, France's landmark museum, will unveil an exhibition called "Olympism" on April 24. 

The Olympic Museum and the Paris tourism office, Paris Je T'aime, co-launched "SPOT24 – the Olympic Exhibition on Sport and Urban Cultures" on April 3. Inspired by the Olympic Museum's most successful temporary exhibition to date: "Riding the Olympic Wave," the show lasts until the end of this year and introduces six new and urban Olympic sports and disciplines, namely skateboarding, sport climbing, BMX freestyle, surfing, 3x3 basketball and breaking, in a venue right next to the iconic Eiffel Tower. 

The Marmottan-Monet Museum opened the "Artists and Sport, 1870-1930" exhibition on April 1, which will run until September, featuring Claude Monet's "Regates at Argenteuil" and works by Gustave Caillebotte and Paul Signac, an eminent yachtsman of his time. The Immigration Museum will put on the exhibition of "Olympism, A History of the World," highlighting "the struggles in favor of equality, against racism and discrimination." The Orsay Museum will organize a grand ball on June 22, echoing the one held during the last time the city hosted the Games, dating back a hundred years ago, alongside a photography exhibition on Tuileries Gardens.

"In Paris, the configuration is very different; many events take place in the city – Concorde, Invalides, Grand Palais. So, people will come out of their competition and immediately be close to a cultural place," said Dominique Hervieu, the director of culture at Paris 2024.

As one of the prominently cultured cities in the world, Paris hopes to keep up the museum attendance as those in London suffered a sharp attendance drop during the 2012 Summer Games.