Louvre evacuates artwork after widespread flooding

A man walks on a flooded road near
 his houseboat moored near the
Eiffel tower after days of almost
non-stop flooding in the country.
 

Paris's Louvre museum moved to evacuate artworks held in its underground reserves as the River Seine burst its banks and widespread flooding hit parts of France and Germany.

The riverside museum — the most visited in the world, home to everything from the Mona Lisa to priceless Egyptian artefacts — took the radical action after days of torrential rain in the French capital sent the Seine surging to its highest level for over 30 years.

The Musee d'Orsay, which faces the Louvre on the opposite bank of the river, also closed to put its own "protection plan" into place.

Its galleries hold the world's greatest collection of Impressionist masterpieces, including the finest paintings by Renoir, Manet, Van Gogh and Degas, as well as 24 works by Gauguin.

Read the ABC story - “Paris floods: Art treasures evacuated from Louvre as Seine bursts its banks.”