Chenonceau, the Acropolis or the Château d'If: heritage battered and challenged by climate change

Emmanuelle Héran, who has been responsible for the statuary housed in the Tuileries and Carrousel gardens, administered by the Louvre, for ten years, knows her stuff inside out. In winter, the curator meticulously covers certain sculptures with frost-proof covers. Each year, she also establishes a rigorous restoration plan. A meticulously planned protocol, which an unexpected whim of Mother Nature suddenly disrupted in 2024.

Anticipating the whirlwind of the Olympic Games, which would attract hundreds of thousands of visitors to the Tuileries, Emmanuelle Héran had two imposing statues by Antoine-François Gérard, allegories of History and victorious France, cleaned in April 2024 near the Arc de Triomphe du Carrousel, which had also had a makeover in the meantime. Summer is coming, the sun is out. The postcard is perfect.

But, by October, the two freshly polished statues had been covered in a carpet of intense green moss. The cause was the record rains recorded in Paris in the autumn. "We had to treat them again, even though it wasn't in our budget," says Emmanuelle Héran. "Thank God, spring 2025 is very dry, even a little too dry..." Now it's the effects of the drought and a possible heatwave that are putting the curator under pressure. "We lack perspective and experience. We need to find new reflexes," says Emmanuelle Héran positively .

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