Le Louvre: The art of stealth
Their work would need to be carried out with methodical – almost surgical – precision. Blending in would be key: they couldn’t afford to be heard, let alone seen. After all, this was the Louvre, home to Leonardo da Vinci’s Mona Lisa, and to countless other masterpieces. The team was putting the final touches to the plan.
They weren’t discussing the greatest heist of all times, though. Instead, they were talking elevators.The Schindler France team had just secured the contract for the installation of 16 escalators at the Louvre Museum – a building of epic proportions, which had over the years become a symbol of the French capital, just as much as the Tour Eiffel, Notre Dame, or L’Arc de Triomphe.
“We are thrilled and honored to be supporting a project of that stature, and to contributing to making the Louvre an even more enjoyable place to visit,” says Johann Autechaud, Escalator Manager for Schindler France.
The contract, the culmination of a tender process that began in 2018, came with a twist, however: the installation of these new escalators would need to be carried out with minimum disruption to the museum’s day-to-day operations.
The art of stealth
How do you do that exactly? You take a card out of a chameleon’s playbook and blend into the background.
The hoisting equipment – a bulky, and, let’s face it, not very pretty affair – used to remove the existing escalators and to install the new ones will be painted in the Louvre’s colors – to minimize visual disruption. “This is a first for us,” says Johann. “But there’s nothing we wouldn’t do to please our customers.”
The Louvre is more than a museum – it’s an institution. Every year, it attracts tens of thousands of visitors flocking from all over the world to take in the works of the greatest.
“Our escalators are known for their reliability and durability, even when subjected to heavy foot traffic,” says Johann. “They are also silent, which is very important in a museum such as the Louvre.”