Paris train showcases city’s art, museums

Paris, Sep 27 (EFE).- A new initiative to attract visitors to Paris’ world renowned museums is seeing their famous artworks transplanted into the city’s suburban trains, providing commuters and tourists a sensory trip that organizers hope will entice them to visit the museums in person.

It took 600 hours to transform four rail carriages into a rolling exhibition with copies of some of the most emblematic works from the Carnavalet Museum, the Palais Galliera, the Museum of Modern Art and the Petit Palais.

“The idea is to encourage (passengers) to visit these four museums through which the C line passes, to enjoy a cultural moment,” the director of commuter trains of the French public railway company, SNCF, told EFE on Wednesday.

The Carnavalet presents travelers with a brief summary of the history of the capital, the Petit Palais brings architecture and more classical art, the Museum of Modern Art is the Parisian flagship of the modernist movement and the Galliera addresses fashion and its relationship with society through collections from the 19th and 20th centuries.

“This operation is intended to highlight the artistic heritage riches of the city’s museums. It is a way to highlight what is there and to reinforce the attractiveness of the capital,” the Councillor for Culture, Carine Rolland, said

The special train will start running this week and is scheduled to operate for the next 10 years with decorations that line its ceilings and walls with artistic reproductions.

It is not the first time that art and rail transport have joined forces: in 2012, line C hosted the “Palace of Versailles” train and also launched in the past the Impressionists train in collaboration with the Musée d’Orsay or the Arts and Civilizations train, in cooperation with the Quai Branly-Jacques Chirac. EFE

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