The Musée d'Orsay may be changing its name

The Musée d’Orsay was first opened to the public in December 1986 during François Mitterrand’s first term in office, but the plan to transform the former station into a museum venue dedicated to all the arts of the 19th and 20th centuries was due to President Valéry Giscard d’Estaing in October 1977.

The latter, the third president of the French Fifth Republic, passed away a few days ago, on December 2, and after the day of national mourning in his tribute, his son Luis Giscard d’Estaing, who serves as mayor in Chamalières in the Auvergne region and as vice-president of the UDI (Union of Democrats and Independents), declared that “it would be legitimate” to rename the famous museum venue in honor of his father, thus renaming it Musée Valéry-Giscard-d’Estaing. “It is legitimate, he was the one who prevented the destruction of the Orsay station when he was president,” he said. “Then he had the idea of creating a 19th-century museum there with the success we know. I think it would be a way to pay tribute to Valéry Giscard d’Estaing’s action.”

The idea was supported by Valérie Pécresse, president of the Île-de-France region, and Rachida Dati, mayor of the 7th arrondissement of Paris, as the Beaubourg Contemporary Art Center is named after Georges Pompidou, the Grande Bibliothèque de la BNF is named after François Mitterrand, and the Musée des Arts-Premiers has been renamed the Musée du Quai Branly-Jacques-Chirac.

Culture Minister Roselyne Bachelot announced that she is awaiting the opinion of Paris Mayor Anne Hidalgo and Musée d’Orsay Director Laurence des Cars, but the former president’s name will be “one way or another celebrated within the Musée d’Orsay.”

Ph.Credit Daniel Vorndran

The Musée d'Orsay may be changing its name

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