115-743: The Grand Louvre refers to the decade-long project initiated by French President François Mitterrand in 1981 of expanding and remodeling the Louvre – both the building and the museum – by moving the French Finance Ministry , which had been located in the Louvre's northern wing since 1871, to a different location. The centerpiece of the Grand Louvre is the Louvre Pyramid designed by Chinese-American architect I. M. Pei , which
230-463: A Fifth Republic . He justified his opposition by the circumstances of de Gaulle's comeback: the 13 May 1958 quasi-putsch and military pressure. In September 1958, determinedly opposed to Charles de Gaulle, François Mitterrand made an appeal to vote "no" in the referendum over the Constitution , which was nevertheless adopted on 4 October 1958. This defeated coalition of the "No" was composed of
345-666: A Lysander plane on 15 November 1943 (piloted by then- Squadron Leader Lewis Hodges ). He promoted his movement to the British and American Authorities, but he was sent to Algiers , where he met de Gaulle, by then the uncontested leader of the Free French. The two men clashed, de Gaulle refused to jeopardize the Resistance by including a movement that gathered information from POWs. Later Mitterrand refused to merge his group with other POW movements if de Gaulle's nephew Cailliau
460-418: A billion euros. It more than tripled the Louvre's surface area, from 57,000 to almost 180,000 square meters. Within that, the exhibition space almost doubled from 31,000 to 60,000 square meters, and the number of exhibits on display increased from 20,600 to over 34,000. Museum attendance more than doubled, from an average 2.8 million visitors per year in 1980–1988 to over 5 million in 1990–2001. As early as
575-508: A fake attempt on his life. Prosecution was initiated against François Mitterrand but was later dropped. Nonetheless, the Observatory Affair cast a lasting shadow over Mitterrand's reputation. Years later in 1965, when François Mitterrand emerged as the challenger to de Gaulle in the second round of the presidential elections, de Gaulle was urged by an aide to use the Observatory Affair to discredit his opponent. "No, and don't insist"
690-757: A few more rooms opened on the Western end of the Richelieu Wing, of 19th-century decorative arts (first floor) and Northern European paintings (second floor). Further underground spaces known as the Carrousel du Louvre , centered on the Pyramide Inversée (inverted pyramid) and designed by Pei and Macary, had opened in stages during October and November 1993. Like in the first phase, this had started in May 1989 with an excavation campaign, which uncovered
805-614: A flat in Vichy , where they hoped to arrest François Morland, a member of the resistance. "Morland" was François Mitterrand's cover name. He also used Purgon, Monnier, Laroche, Captain François, Arnaud et Albre as cover names. The man they arrested was Pol Pilven , a member of the resistance who was to survive the war in a concentration camp. François Mitterrand was in Paris at the time. Warned by his friends, Mitterrand escaped to London aboard
920-865: A formal member of the French Social Party , which was the successor to the Croix de Feu and may be considered the first French right-wing mass party. However, he did write news articles in the L'Echo de Paris newspaper, which was close to the Social Party. He participated in the demonstrations against the " invasion métèque " in February 1935 and then in those against law teacher Gaston Jèze , who had been nominated as juridical counsellor of Ethiopia 's Negus , in January 1936. When Mitterrand's involvement in these conservative nationalist movements
1035-552: A glass pyramid leading to underground spaces at the center of the Louvre, first designed in late 1983 and presented to the public in early 1984, added to the controversy: ostensibly on esthetic and preservationist grounds, but more substantially as a political proxy for attacks on Mitterrand and his "monarchical" leadership style. The campaign against the pyramid peaked in 1985, with the creation by former Culture Minister Michel Guy [ fr ] of an association dedicated to that fight ( association pour le renouveau du Louvre ) and
1150-456: A left-wing opponent to Charles de Gaulle in publishing Le Coup d'État permanent (The permanent coup, 1964), which criticized de Gaulle's personal power, the weaknesses of Parliament and of the government, the President's exclusive control of foreign affairs, and defence, etc. In 1965, Mitterrand was the first left-wing politician who saw the presidential election by universal suffrage as
1265-739: A long section of the 14th century Wall of Charles V . The third phase was less spectacular than the first two, as it involved the renovation and technical upgrading of spaces that for the most part had already been part of the museum before the Grand Louvre started. Air conditioning was installed in the galleries, not least the Grand Gallery which had been notorious for its hot summers. New galleries of foreign sculpture opened on 28 October 1994. More rooms of Italian paintings and Greek, Etruscan and Roman antiquities opened on 21 January 1997. The renovated Middle Eastern Antiquities spaces, named "Sackler Wing" in 1997 in response to financial support from
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#17327662857361380-569: A member of the ORA, moreover he set up his own RNPG network with Pinot in February and he obtained funding for his own network. In March, François Mitterrand met Henri Frenay , who encouraged the resistance in France to support François Mitterrand over Michel Cailliau. 28 May 1943, when François Mitterrand met with Gaullist Philippe Dechartre [ fr ] , is generally taken as the date François Mitterrand split with Vichy. According to Dechartre,
1495-547: A one-vote margin. The Socialist Party denounced Lang for this vote; party spokesman Julien Dray said that he had "gone too far" and "no longer has his place in our political family", while Jean-Marc Ayrault , the President of the Socialist Parliamentary Group, said that Lang's vote was an act of " crossing the Rubicon ". Lang replied by saying that it "is in nobody's power to strike me from the map of
1610-415: A radical left-wing economic agenda, including nationalisation of key firms and the introduction of the 39-hour work week. He likewise pushed a socially liberal agenda with reforms such as the abolition of the death penalty , and the end of a government monopoly in radio and television broadcasting. He was also a strong promoter of French culture and implemented a range of costly " Grands Projets ". In 1985, he
1725-533: A second visit to London in February 1944, Mitterrand took part in the liberation of Paris in August; he took over the headquarters of Commissariat général aux prisonniers de guerre (general office for POW, the ministry he was working for), immediately he took up the vacant post of secretary general of POWs. When de Gaulle entered Paris following the Liberation , he was introduced to various men who were to be part of
1840-479: A semi-permanent project organization created on 2 November 1983 and maintained until July 1998. Biasini retired in July 1987 and was succeeded as EPGL President by Pierre-Yves Ligen (1987–1989) and Jean Lebrat (1989–1998); from 1988 to 1992 he was state secretary (junior minister) in charge of the grands travaux . In July 1998, the project was substantially completed and the remaining coordination tasks were transferred to
1955-541: A socialist background and worked for various left-wing causes. They married on 24 October 1944 and had three sons: Pascal (10 June – 17 September 1945), Jean-Christophe , born in 1946, and Gilbert, born on 4 February 1949. He also had two children as results of extra-marital affairs: an acknowledged daughter, Mazarine (born 1974), with his mistress Anne Pingeot , and an unacknowledged son, Hravn Forsne (born 1988), with Swedish journalist Chris Forsne [ sv ] . François Mitterrand's nephew Frédéric Mitterrand
2070-431: A temporary location outside of the Louvre in January 1986. Following the trouncing of Mitterrand's Socialist Party at the 1986 legislative election , the new finance minister Édouard Balladur announced the reversal of the decision to leave the Louvre and took up his office there in mid-April. But Balladur did not prevail, as other key members of the government, despite being political opponents of Mitterrand, acknowledged
2185-539: A total of 194. The Communists remained the largest left-wing group with 22.5% of votes. The governing coalition won with its majority reduced by only one seat (247 seats out of 487). In Paris, the Left (FGDS, PSU, PCF) managed to win more votes in the first round than the two governing parties (46% against 42.6%) while the Democratic Centre of Duhamel got 7% of votes. But with 38% of votes, de Gaulle's Union for
2300-676: A true spy network in the POW camps which gave us information, often decisive, about what was going on behind the German borders." On 10 July François Mitterrand and Piatzook (a militant communist) interrupted a public meeting in the Salle Wagram in Paris. The meeting was about allowing French POWs to go home if they were replaced by young French men forced to go and work in Germany (in French this
2415-580: A way to defeat the opposition leadership. Not a member of any specific political party, his candidacy for presidency was accepted by all left-wing parties (the French Section of the Workers' International (SFIO), French Communist Party (PCF), Radical-Socialist Party (PR) and Unified Socialist Party (PSU)). He ended the cordon sanitaire of the PCF which the party had been subject to since 1947. For
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#17327662857362530-606: Is the current President. Lang was a Member of the European Parliament from 1994 to 1997. In 2000, he stood unsuccessfully for Mayor of Paris . While he had planned to stand for president in 2007 , he ultimately decided not to register as a candidate in the Socialist primary for the sake of party unity. In 2007, Lang agreed to become co-chairman of a commission drafting changes to the Constitution that were supported by President Nicolas Sarkozy but opposed by
2645-719: The Bloc National in 1919 . Mitterrand was accused of being responsible for this huge legislative defeat and the FGDS split. In 1969, François Mitterrand could not run for the Presidency: Guy Mollet refused to give him the support of the SFIO. The left wing was eliminated in the first round, with the Socialist candidate Gaston Defferre winning a humiliating 5.1 percent of the total vote. Georges Pompidou faced
2760-527: The 1981 presidential election . He was re-elected in 1988 and remained in office until 1995. Mitterrand invited the Communist Party into his first government, which was a controversial decision at the time. In any event, the Communists were boxed in as junior partners and, rather than taking advantage, saw their support erode. They left the cabinet in 1984. Early in his first term, he followed
2875-680: The Chinese Museum (Fontainebleau) ; the rest of the Musée de Marine followed in the early 1940s, to the Palais de Chaillot ; the Louvre's extensive Asian art collections were handed over to the Guimet Museum in 1945; and most of its French artworks created after 1848 (except those which had to remain in the Louvre because of binding bequest provisions) were headed for the Musée d'Orsay by
2990-536: The Comité d'entraide aux prisonniers rapatriés de l'Allier (Mutual Assistance Committee for Repatriated POWs of the Allier Department). By the end of 1942, François Mitterrand met Pierre Guillain de Bénouville , an old friend from his days with La Cagoule . Bénouville was a member of the resistance groups Combat and Noyautage des administrations publiques (NAP). In late 1942, the non-occupied zone
3105-715: The Cour Carrée (1983–1985), by Pierre-Jean Trombetta and Yves de Kisch in the Cour Napoléon (1984–1986), and by Paul Van Ossel in the southwestern section of the Carrousel Garden (1985–1987). A later campaign in the central and northern sections of the Carrousel Garden took place in 1989–1990. In parallel to the excavations in the Cour Carrée, the façades around the square were renovated and
3220-722: The Fête de la Musique , a massive celebration of music held on 21 June each year, where many amateur musicians give free open-air performances. He is the co-founder and president of the Union of the Theatres of Europe . In August 1981, he created the Lang Law , which allows publishers to enforce a minimum sale price for books. In the 80s he contributed to the creation of the Europe Theatre Prize , born in 1986, of which he
3335-663: The June 1946 legislative election , he led the list of the Rally of the Republican Lefts ( Rassemblement des gauches républicaines , RGR) in the Western suburb of Paris, but he was not elected. The RGR was an electoral entity composed of the Radical Party , the centrist Democratic and Socialist Union of the Resistance ( Union démocratique et socialiste de la Résistance , UDSR) and several conservative groupings. It opposed
3450-634: The Louvre Museum was first established in 1793, many other activities still existed in the palace. This mixed-use reality was perpetuated in Napoleon III's Louvre expansion , which resulted in the entrenchment of administrative offices in the Louvre's North Wing, from 1871 mainly the Ministry of Finance . The expansion of the museum's collections, combined with the gradual shift of curatorial practices towards less cluttered displays, meant that
3565-621: The Maastricht Treaty , and he accepted German reunification . Less than eight months after leaving office, he died from the prostate cancer he had successfully concealed for most of his presidency. Beyond making the French Left electable, Mitterrand presided over the rise of the Socialist Party to dominance of the left, and the decline of the once-dominant Communist Party. François Marie Adrien Maurice Mitterrand
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3680-631: The Order of the Francisque (the honorific distinction of the Vichy Regime). Debate rages in France as to the significance of this. When François Mitterrand's Vichy past was exposed in the 1950s, he at first denied having received the Francisque (some sources say he was designated for the award, but never received the medal because he went into hiding before the ceremony took place). Socialist Resistance leader Jean Pierre-Bloch says that Mitterrand
3795-529: The Réunion des Musées Nationaux . Each of the seven departments acted as a separate curatorial fiefdom, and human resources issues were partly delegated to the powerful employees' unions. Mitterrand appointed Émile Biasini [ fr ] , an experienced administrator, first as project manager on 17 September 1982 and then as president of the Etablissement Public du Grand Louvre (EPGL),
3910-569: The Sackler family (that naming was reversed in 2019), opened on 10 October 1997. A large number of additional renovated rooms opened on 21 December 1997 including Egyptian and classical antiquities, Italian paintings and drawings. The new rooms of the Department of Egyptian Antiquities , designed by Atelier de l'Ile, included unprecedented space for Coptic art , e.g. the reconstituted Bawit monastery church from Upper Egypt . On 28 October 1998,
4025-633: The Vichy regime during its earlier years. Subsequently he joined the Resistance , moved to the left, and held ministerial office several times under the Fourth Republic . Mitterrand opposed Charles de Gaulle 's establishment of the Fifth Republic. Although at times a politically isolated figure, he outmanoeuvered rivals to become the left's standard bearer in the 1965 and 1974 presidential elections, before being elected president in
4140-518: The département of Vosges . His father was from a secular , assimilated, well-to-do Jewish family based in Nancy . Roger Lang was the commercial manager of the family business which was founded by Jack's grandfather Albert. Roger and Albert were both freemasons . Jack's mother, Marie-Luce Bouchet, a Catholic , was born in 1919 to Emile Bouchet, who died in 1926, and Berthe Boulanger, a nurse who
4255-617: The unoccupied zone controlled by the French. With help from a friend of his mother he got a job as a mid-level functionary of the Vichy government , looking after the interests of POWs. This was very unusual for an escaped prisoner, and he later claimed to have served as a spy for the Free French Forces . Mitterrand worked from January to April 1942 for the Légion française des combattants et des volontaires de la révolution nationale (Legion of French combatants and volunteers of
4370-613: The École Libre des Sciences Politiques until 1937, where he obtained his diploma in July of that year. François Mitterrand took membership for about a year in the Volontaires nationaux (National Volunteers), an organisation related to François de la Rocque 's far-right league, the Croix de Feu ; the league had just participated in the 6 February 1934 riots which led to the fall of the second Cartel des Gauches (Left-Wing Coalition). Contrary to some reports, Mitterrand never became
4485-517: The "Observatory Affair". The incident brought him a great deal of publicity, initially boosting his political ambitions. Some of Mitterrand's critics claimed, however, that he had staged the incident himself, resulting in a backlash against him. He later said he had earlier been warned by right-wing deputy Robert Pesquet that he was the target of an Algérie française death squad and accused Prime Minister Michel Debré of being its instigator. Before his death, Pesquet claimed that Mitterrand had set up
4600-420: The 1870s had fundamentally altered the logic of their arrangement. In the central courtyard, the two octagonal gardens were poorly maintained and surrounded by the parking lots for Finance Ministry employees (to the north) and museum staff (to the south). Because of lack of parking space in the vicinity, unsightly tourist buses were permanently stationed along the southern side of the palace. The natural solution
4715-455: The CIR of François Mitterrand). In the legislative election of March 1967 , the system where all candidates who failed to pass a 10% threshold in the first round were eliminated from the second round favoured the pro-Gaullist majority, which faced a split opposition (PCF, FGDS and centrists of Jacques Duhamel ). Nevertheless, the parties of the left managed to gain 63 seats more than previously for
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4830-542: The Château de Montmaur which formed the base of his future network for the resistance. From September, he made contact with Free French Forces , but clashed with Michel Cailliau [ fr ] , General Charles de Gaulle 's nephew (and de Gaulle's candidate to head-up all POW-related resistance organizations). On 15 October 1942, François Mitterrand and Marcel Barrois (a member of the resistance deported in 1944) met Marshal Philippe Pétain along with other members of
4945-598: The Denon Wing that still await renovation. From the start of the project, Mitterrand endeavored to ring-fence the Grand Louvre project from the hostile finance ministry and the normal interagency decision-making process. By tradition, the Louvre Museum had very little autonomy, with curatorial policy steered by the Culture Ministry 's Direction des Musées and commercial/outreach policy in the hands of
5060-966: The Design Award of the European Convention for Constructional Steelwork (1989); the prix spécial of the Syndicat de la construction métallique de France [ fr ] (1988); the Grand Award of the American Concrete Institute , Central New York Chapter (1989); and Le Moniteur 's Equerre d'Argent / Prix Spécial Grands Projets Parisiens (1989). Several of the project's protagonists published books specifically dedicated to their Grand Louvre experience, including Biasini, Pei, and Lang. Fran%C3%A7ois Mitterrand François Maurice Adrien Marie Mitterrand (26 October 1916 – 8 January 1996)
5175-452: The European Movement. As Overseas Minister (1950–1951), Mitterrand opposed the colonial lobby to propose a reform program. He connected with the left when he resigned from the cabinet after the arrest of Morocco 's sultan (1953). As leader of the progressive wing of the UDSR, he took the head of the party in 1953, replacing the conservative René Pleven . In June 1953, Mitterrand attended the coronation of Queen Elizabeth II . Seated next to
5290-419: The Fifth Republic remained the leading French party. During the May 1968 governmental crisis, François Mitterrand held a press conference to announce his candidacy if a new presidential election was held. But after the Gaullist demonstration on the Champs-Élysées , de Gaulle dissolved the Assembly and called for a legislative election instead. In this election , the right wing won its largest majority since
5405-520: The Finance Ministry from the Louvre and dedicate the entire building to museum use at the end of his first presidential press conference on 24 September 1981. It is probable that the influence of art historian Anne Pingeot , a curator at the Louvre since 1972 and Mitterrand's longstanding, though secret, mistress, played a significant role in the decision, which was also recommended after Mitterrand's election by his high-profile Culture Minister Jack Lang . The project, immediately dubbed Grand Louvre , became
5520-554: The French political landscape". In late 2009, Sarkozy appointed Lang his special envoy to North Korea , following a similar assignment earlier in the year to Cuba . Lang travelled to Pyongyang on 9 November 2009 for a self-described "listening mission" aimed at exploring bilateral ties and discussing the North Korean nuclear program , among other things. Lang briefed American officials including Deputy Secretary of State James Steinberg and special envoy Sung Kim , as well as ambassadors of countries involved such as Russia , before
5635-426: The French representative at the liberation of the camps at Kaufering and Dachau . By chance Mitterrand discovered his friend and member of his network, Robert Antelme , suffering from typhus . Antelme was restricted to the camp to prevent the spread of disease, but François Mitterrand arranged for his "escape" and sent him back to France for treatment. After the war Mitterrand quickly moved back into politics. At
5750-545: The Grand Louvre project management. New galleries of 18th- and early 19th-century French paintings on the 2nd floor of the Cour Carrée , designed by Italo Rota , opened on 18 December 1992. On 18 November 1993, Mitterrand inaugurated the next major phase of the Grand Louvre plan: the renovated North (Richelieu) Wing in the former Finance Ministry site, the museum's largest single expansion in its entire history, designed by Pei, his French associate Michel Macary, and Jean-Michel Wilmotte . In January 2000 and July 2001 respectively,
5865-409: The Louvre Museum was increasingly short of space, despite the periodical release of some of its holdings to other museums in Paris. Thus, the pre-Columbian artifacts of the musée américain left in 1887 to the newly created Musée d'Ethnographie du Trocadéro ; in 1905 the ethnographic collections of the Musée de Marine were divided between the Trocadéro museum, the National Antiquities Museum and
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#17327662857365980-436: The Louvre project, from 1983 to 1993, "the 10 most exciting years of my life." The American Institute of Architects gave Pei's firm its prestigious Twenty-five Year Award in 2017, noting that the pyramid "now rivals the Eiffel Tower as one of France’s most recognizable architectural icons (...) Pei wove together an unprecedented amount of cultural sensitivity, political acumen, innovation, and preservation skill", with one of
6095-448: The National Assembly in the second district in the Vosges department. A controversial figure in the Socialist Party since his collaboration with Sarkozy, Lang's constituency was abolished during the national reapportionment and he failed to be nominated in several other constituencies before finally succeeding in the Vosges. The electorate in this department is considered by observers to be more conservative than in Lang's previous seat. Lang
6210-409: The PCF and some left-wing republican politicians (such as Pierre Mendès-France and François Mitterrand). This attitude may have been a factor in Mitterrand's losing his seat in the 1958 elections , beginning a long "crossing of the desert" (this term is usually applied to de Gaulle's decline in influence for a similar period). Indeed, in the second round of the legislative election, François Mitterrand
6325-419: The SFIO leader Guy Mollet , Mitterrand's candidacy prevented Gaston Defferre , his rival in the SFIO, from running for the presidency. Furthermore, François Mitterrand was a lone figure, so he did not appear as a danger to the left-wing parties' staff members. De Gaulle was expected to win in the first round, but Mitterrand received 31.7% of the vote, denying De Gaulle a first-round victory. François Mitterrand
6440-405: The Socialist Party. This decision provoked strong criticism from his party, leading him to end his role in the party leadership. When Parliament voted on the constitutional changes on 21 July 2008, he voted in favour, becoming the only Socialist deputy so to do. A three-fifths majority was required, and the changes passed by a vote of 539 to 357, meaning that Lang's support enabled the bill to pass by
6555-462: The Vichy Regime). From spring 1942, he met other escaped POWs Jean Roussel [ fr ] , Max Varenne, and Dr. Guy Fric [ fr ] , under whose influence he became involved with the resistance. In April, François Mitterrand and Fric caused a major disturbance in a public meeting held by the collaborator Georges Claude . From mid-1942, he sent false papers to POWs in Germany and on 12 June and 15 August 1942, he joined meetings at
6670-436: The arts. He was the founder and producer of Festival du Monde in Nancy , was director of the Nancy University Theatre from 1963 to 1972, and then director of the Théâtre national de Chaillot from 1972 to 1974. At the same time he was a professor of international law from 1971 to 1981 at Nancy University and then Paris Nanterre University . He married Monique Buczynski in 1961. The couple have two daughters. In 1997, he
6785-406: The assignment was publicly announced. Some critics questioned Lang's qualifications, but Lang said he would be driven by his "intuition" that change was afoot in North Korea. In August 2010, Lang became special adviser on piracy at the United Nations. He was brought in to advise on the prosecution of pirates off the coast of Somalia . In 2012 Lang was chosen as the Socialist Party candidate for
6900-414: The authority of their leaders [who] obeyed the demands of the Nazis" – in the Holocaust . Chirac added that the "criminal madness of the occupiers was seconded by the French, by the French State". President Emmanuel Macron was even more specific as to the State's responsibility for the 1942 Vel' d'Hiv Roundup of 13,000 Jews for deportation to concentration camps. It was indeed "France that organized
7015-433: The bombing of Bordeaux. Jack Lang's father was sentenced by the court in Brive for failing to report his children as Jews, but was later acquitted by the Court of Appeal on the ground that the children's mother was a Catholic. He had followed the advice of the rabbi of Brive, David Feuerwerker . Roger Lang was nevertheless placed under house arrest. Berthe Bouchet (Boulanger) visited the Langs in April 1942 when her daughter
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#17327662857367130-444: The cabinet as War Veterans Minister. He held various offices in the Fourth Republic as a Deputy and as a Minister (holding eleven different portfolios in total), including as a mayor of Château-Chinon from 1959 to 1981. In May 1948, Mitterrand participated in the Congress of The Hague , together with Konrad Adenauer , Winston Churchill , Harold Macmillan , Paul-Henri Spaak , Albert Coppé and Altiero Spinelli . It originated
7245-428: The centrist Alain Poher in the second round . Jack Lang (French politician) Jack Mathieu Émile Lang ( French pronunciation: [dʒak matjø emil lɑ̃ɡ] ; born 2 September 1939) is a French politician. A member of the Socialist Party , he served as Minister of Culture from 1981 to 1986 and again from 1988 to 1993, as well as Minister of National Education from 1992 to 1993 and 2000 to 2002. He
7360-427: The death penalty in 1981 led the British writer Anthony Daniels (writing under his pseudonym of Theodore Dalrymple ) to accuse François Mitterrand of being an unprincipled opportunist, a cynical politician who proudly confirmed death sentences of FLN rebels in the 1950s when it was popular and who only came to champion abolishing the death penalty when this was popular with the French people. As Minister of Justice, he
7475-404: The early 1980s. Even so, the Louvre Museum was cramped and lacked any space for modern facilities such as reserves, educational spaces, shops, restaurants and cafés, not to mention security screening, cloakrooms or washrooms. Its exterior spaces had also deteriorated from their heyday during the Second French Empire , and had never been remodeled after the destruction of the Tuileries Palace in
7590-407: The elderly Princess Marie Bonaparte , he reported having spent much of the ceremony being psychoanalyzed by her. As Interior Minister in Pierre Mendès-France 's cabinet (1954–1955), Mitterrand had to direct the response to the Algerian War of Independence . He claimed: " Algeria is France ." He was suspected of being the informer of the Communist Party in the cabinet. This rumour was spread by
7705-478: The finance ministry and the powers-that-be it was able to influence, which for that matter included Mitterrand's Prime Minister Pierre Mauroy . Meanwhile, on 27 July 1983 Mitterrand announced his decision to entrust the project design to Chinese-American architect I. M. Pei , who had acquired fame from successful museum designs such as those for the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston and the National Gallery of Art 's East Wing in Washington DC. Pei's proposed concept of
7820-449: The first floor to new rooms of Spanish paintings. Meanwhile, the Carrousel Garden was recreated on plans by Jacques Wirtz between 1991 and 2001. From the 2000s, any remaining parts of the Grand Louvre's implementation become increasingly indistinguishable from the ongoing operation and projects of the Louvre Museum. New galleries on the Roman-era Eastern Mediterranean ( Orient méditerranéen dans l'Empire Romain ), initially included in
7935-416: The former Paris police prefect, who had been dismissed by him. The suspicions were dismissed by subsequent investigations. The UDSR joined the Republican Front , a centre-left coalition, which won the 1956 legislative election . As Justice Minister (1956–1957), François Mitterrand allowed the expansion of martial law in the Algerian conflict. Unlike other ministers (including Mendès-France), who criticised
8050-444: The jurors adding that it "established a benchmark for new, modern architecture that enriches an historic setting with integrity and respect for both history and progress." Other awards won by Pei Cobb Freed & Partners for the project include the prix d'excellence of the Associations des Ingénieurs Conseils du Canada (1989); the First Prize, Structural-Buildings Category of the New York Association of Consulting Engineers (1988);
8165-477: The keys of the finance ministry's offices in the Louvre, and the demolition and building works swiftly started in the vacated wing. Work on the first phase of the project started with extensive archaeological excavations, which complemented earlier campaigns that had uncovered parts of the Medieval Louvre in 1866 and 1882 and revealed unfinished 17th-century works in front of the Colonnade in 1964. The excavations were led by Michel Fleury and Venceslas Kruta in
8280-413: The late 1980s, when the pyramid opened, it had become widely accepted as an architectural success, even by many of its former critics. Pei's project has won further praise since then. On Pei's death at age 102 in 2019, his New York Times obituary noted: "Within a few years the pyramid had become an accepted, and generally admired, symbol of a re-energized Paris." Pei himself had called his time working on
8395-563: The lead. In his memoirs, he says that he had started this organisation while he was still officially working for the Vichy Regime. From 27 November 1943, Mitterrand worked for the Bureau central de renseignements et d'action . In December 1943 François Mitterrand ordered the execution of Henri Marlin (who was about to order attacks on the " Maquis ") by Jacques Paris and Jean Munier, who later hid out with François Mitterrand's father. After
8510-578: The majority, was thus elected for another term, but this defeat was regarded as honourable, for no one was really expected to defeat de Gaulle. François Mitterrand took the lead of a centre-left alliance: the Federation of the Democratic and Socialist Left ( Fédération de la gauche démocrate et socialiste , FGDS). It was composed of the SFIO, the Radicals and several left-wing republican clubs (such
8625-551: The meeting on 28 May 1943 was set up because "there were three movements [of Résistance :] […] the Gaullist, the communist, and one from support centers […] hence I was assigned the mission to prepare what would be called afterwards the merger [of the three movements]." During 1943, the RNPG gradually changed from providing false papers to information-gathering for France libre . Pierre de Bénouville said, "François Mitterrand created
8740-798: The most high-profile of Mitterrand's Grands Projets which also included the Arab World Institute , the Grande Arche , the Opéra Bastille , and later the new site of the Bibliothèque nationale de France and the Jean-Marie Tjibaou Cultural Centre , as well as the new building for the relocated Finance Ministry in the Paris neighborhood of Bercy . The project immediately encountered criticism, including on ground of cost, not least from
8855-555: The national revolution) as a civil servant on a temporary contract. François Mitterrand worked under Jean-Paul Favre de Thierrens who was a spy for the British secret service. He then moved to the Commissariat au reclassement des prisonniers de guerre (Service for the Reorientation of POWs). During this period, François Mitterrand was aware of Thierrens's activities and may have helped in his disinformation campaign . At
8970-537: The national-royalist movement Action française . His friendship with Dayan caused Mitterrand to begin to question some of his nationalist ideas. Finishing his law studies, he was sent in September 1939 to the Maginot line near Montmédy , with the rank of Sergeant-chief (infantry sergeant). He became engaged to Marie-Louise Terrasse (future actress and television presenter Catherine Langeais ) in May 1940, when she
9085-440: The new space was inaugurated on 26 June 1986. Following the completion of the pyramid and its three accompanying pyramidions ("pyramidlets") in late 1987, the open space surrounding it, rebranded Cour Napoléon , was opened to the public on 14 October 1988, including the copy in lead of Gian Lorenzo Bernini 's equestrian statue of Louis XIV placed at the exact end of Paris's axe historique . The pyramid itself, together with
9200-494: The newly created national service now known as the opérateur du patrimoine et des projets immobiliers de la culture [ fr ] . For the management of the museum itself, a self-standing Établissement Public du Musée du Louvre was created on 22 December 1992, headed by the Director of the Louvre Museum. The Louvre's management autonomy was further strengthened in the early 2000s. The Grand Louvre project cost over
9315-719: The policy of the " Three-parties alliance" (Communists, Socialists and Christian Democrats). In the November 1946 legislative election , he succeeded in winning a seat as deputy from the Nièvre département . To be elected, he had to win a seat at the expense of the French Communist Party (PCF). As leader of the RGR list, he led a very anti-communist campaign. He became a member of the UDSR party. In January 1947, he joined
9430-414: The popularity and relevance of the grand Louvre project, which was actively defended by culture minister François Léotard . A compromise was eventually announced on 29 July 1987, with a ten-year schedule for the project completion. The move of the ministry was again accelerated following Mitterrand's re-election in 1988 . On 11 July 1989, Bérégovoy, again finance minister, symbolically returned to Mitterrand
9545-484: The provisional government. Among them was François Mitterrand, when they came face to face, de Gaulle is said to have muttered: "You again!" He dismissed François Mitterrand 2 weeks later. In October 1944, Mitterrand and Jacques Foccart developed a plan to liberate the POW and concentration camps. This was called operation Vicarage . On the orders of de Gaulle, in April 1945 François Mitterrand accompanied General Lewis as
9660-471: The publication of the polemic Paris mystifié: La grande illusion du Grand Louvre by respected scholars Bruno Foucart [ fr ] , Sébastien Loste et Antoine Schnapper , with a preface by celebrated photographer Henri Cartier-Bresson . Mitterrand invested significant political capital into the project, however, and was able to bring it to full completion. To create a sense of irreversibility, finance minister Pierre Bérégovoy moved his office to
9775-532: The rallying of left-wing forces at the national level, including the PCF, in order to challenge Gaullist domination. Two years later, he became the president (chairman) of the General Council of Nièvre. While the opposition to De Gaulle organized in clubs, he founded his own group, the Convention of Republican Institutions ( Convention des institutions républicaines , CIR). He reinforced his position as
9890-572: The renovated rooms of the Campana collection opened in the southern wing of the Cour Carrée . Room renovations in the Denon Wing included that of the Salle Percier et Fontaine and Salle Duchatel , designed by Yves Lion [ fr ] and executed in 1997–1998. A new entrance at the Porte des Lions , also designed by Yves Lion's architecture firm, opened on 22 May 1999, leading on
10005-585: The repressive policy in Algeria, he remained in Guy Mollet 's cabinet until its end. As Minister of Justice, he had a role in 45 executions of the Algerian natives, recommending President René Coty to reject clemency in 80% of the cases, an action he later came to regret. François Mitterrand's role in confirming the death sentences of FLN rebels convicted by French courts of terrorism and later in abolishing
10120-441: The roundup of Jews who were then deported to death camps during the war was solely the work of "Vichy France", an entity distinct from France: "The Republic had nothing to do with this. I do not believe France is responsible." This position was rejected by President Jacques Chirac in 1995 who stated that it was time that France faced up to its past. He acknowledged the role of the state – "4,500 policemen and gendarmes, French, under
10235-606: The roundup, the deportation, and thus, for almost all, death." It was done by "French police collaborating with the Nazis", he said on 16 July 2017. "It is convenient to see the Vichy regime as born of nothingness, returned to nothingness. Yes, it’s convenient, but it is false. We cannot build pride upon a lie." Mitterrand built up a resistance network, composed mainly of former POWs. The POWs National Rally ( Rassemblement national des prisonniers de guerre [ fr ] , RNPG)
10350-431: The same time, he published an article detailing his time as a POW in the magazine France, revue de l'État nouveau (the magazine was published as propaganda by the Vichy Regime). François Mitterrand has been called a " Vichysto-résistant " (an expression used by the historian Jean-Pierre Azéma to describe people who supported Marshal Philippe Pétain , the head of the Vichy Regime, before 1943, but subsequently rejected
10465-491: The successive Grand Louvre plans as "trois antiques" (since they blend objects from the three departments of Egyptian, Oriental, and Classical antiquities), opened in September 2012 together with the new department of Islamic art , whose creation on Jacques Chirac 's initiative was not labeled as part of the Grand Louvre. As late as March 2021, the President of the Louvre referred to the "Grand Louvre program" as relevant and "still unfinished", with specific reference to sections of
10580-425: The vast lobby beneath it ( "Hall Napoléon" ) and the extensive surrounding underground complex, was opened on 29 March 1989. This included the renovated remains of the medieval Louvre, namely the external moat, the internal ditch surrounding the circular keep , and a partly preserved gothic room dubbed the salle Saint-Louis . Meanwhile, all new initiatives to renovate the Louvre's exhibition rooms were brought under
10695-412: Was 16, but she broke it off in January 1942. Following an observation of Nazi concentration camps at the end of World War II, François Mitterrand became an agnostic . François Mitterrand's actions during World War II were the cause of much controversy in France during the 1980s and 1990s. Mitterrand was near the end of his national service when the war broke out. He fought as an infantry sergeant and
10810-650: Was President of the Jury at the 47th Berlin International Film Festival . Lang entered politics as a Socialist member of the French National Assembly from Paris in 1977. He is best known for having served as Minister of Culture (22 May 1981 – 19 March 1986 and 13 May 1988 – 29 March 1993) and as Minister of Education (3 April 1992 – 29 March 1993 and 27 March 2000 – 5 May 2002). In 1981, while Minister of Culture, he created
10925-532: Was a French politician and statesman who served as President of France from 1981 to 1995, the longest holder of that position in the history of France . As a former Socialist Party First Secretary , he was the first left-wing politician to assume the presidency under the Fifth Republic . Due to family influences, Mitterrand started his political life on the Catholic nationalist right. He served under
11040-683: Was a journalist, Minister of Culture and Communications under Nicolas Sarkozy (and a supporter of Jacques Chirac , former French President), and his wife's brother-in-law Roger Hanin was a well-known French actor. François Mitterrand studied from 1925 to 1934 in the Collège Saint-Paul in Angoulême , where he became a member of the Jeunesse Etudiante Chrétienne , the student organisation of Action catholique . Arriving in Paris in autumn 1934, he then went to
11155-592: Was about to give birth to her third child, Marianne. In 1943, Berthe was arrested in Nancy by the Gestapo for acts of propaganda and resistance. She was deported to Ravensbrück and died in the spring of 1945. Jack Lang studied political science at the Institut d'Études Politiques de Paris , and went on to receive a postgraduate degree in public law. His career then focused on a combination of teaching and culture and
11270-670: Was affiliated with General Henri Giraud , a former POW who had escaped from a German prison and made his way across Germany back to the Allied forces. In 1943 Giraud was contesting with de Gaulle for the leadership of the French Resistance . From the beginning of 1943, Mitterrand had contacts with a powerful resistance group called the Organisation de résistance de l'armée (ORA), organised by former French military personnel. From this time on, François Mitterrand could act as
11385-517: Was also Mayor of Blois from 1989 until his resignation in 2000. Lang is best known for originating the Fête de la Musique in 1982 as Culture Minister, an all day public music festival which occurs yearly on 21 June in France and throughout the world. Since 2013 he has been president of the Arab World Institute in Paris . Jack Lang was born to Roger Lang and Marie-Luce Bouchet in Mirecourt , in
11500-820: Was also a freemason. In 1938, Albert and Roger sent their wives to Vichy because of the threat of war with Germany. After the German invasion, Albert Lang and his wife moved to Brive-la-Gaillarde in Corrèze . The very young Jack and his mother went to stay with his great-grandmother (the mother of Berthe Boulanger) in Cholet and subsequently moved to Bordeaux . His father Roger was first mobilized in Luneville, and then joined his parents and his brother-in-law Luc Bouchet in Brive. Jack and his mother also joined them in Brive after
11615-501: Was also the project's most controversial component. The Grand Louvre was substantially completed in the late 1990s, even though its last elements were only finalized in the 2010s. Following Louis XIV's move to Versailles in the 1660s, the Louvre Palace ceased to be mainly used as a royal palace and became inhabited by artists, civil servants and the occasional royal, as well as hosting various bodies and institutions. Even after
11730-478: Was an official representative of France during the wedding of Rainier III , Prince of Monaco , and actress Grace Kelly . Under the Fourth Republic, he was representative of a generation of young ambitious politicians. He appeared as a possible future prime minister. In 1958, Mitterrand was one of the few to object to the nomination of Charles de Gaulle as head of government, and to de Gaulle's plan for
11845-640: Was born on 26 October 1916 in Jarnac , Charente , the son of Joseph Mitterrand and Yvonne Lorrain. His family was devoutly Catholic and conservative. His father worked as a stationmaster for the Compagnie Paris Orléans railway. He had three brothers, Robert, Jacques (retired General and head of the French state aircraft company Aerospatiale), and Philippe, and four sisters, Antoinette, Marie-Josèphe, Colette, and Geneviève. Mitterrand's wife, Danielle Mitterrand ( née Gouze, 1924–2011), came from
11960-477: Was called " la relève "). When André Masson began to talk about " la trahison des gaullistes " (the Gaullist treason), François Mitterrand stood up in the audience and shouted him down, saying Masson had no right to talk on behalf of POWs and calling la relève a " con " (i.e., something stupid). Mitterrand avoided arrest as Piatzook covered his escape. In November 1943, the Sicherheitsdienst raided
12075-539: Was created by Mendès-France, former internal opponents of Mollet and reform-minded former members of the Communist Party. The PSU leaders justified their decision by referring to his non-resignation from Mollet's cabinet and by his past in Vichy. Also in that same year, on the Avenue de l'Observatoire in Paris, Mitterrand claimed to have escaped an assassin's bullet by diving behind a hedge, in what became known as
12190-865: Was faced with a major controversy after ordering the bombing of the Rainbow Warrior , a Greenpeace vessel docked in Auckland . Later in 1991, he became the first French President to appoint a female prime minister, Édith Cresson . During his presidency, Mitterrand was twice forced by the loss of a parliamentary majority into " cohabitation governments " with conservative cabinets led, respectively, by Jacques Chirac (1986–1988), and Édouard Balladur (1993–1995). Mitterrand’s foreign and defence policies built on those of his Gaullist predecessors, except in regards to their reluctance to support European integration , which he reversed. His partnership with German chancellor Helmut Kohl advanced European integration via
12305-782: Was injured and captured by the Germans on 14 June 1940. He was held prisoner at Stalag IXA near Ziegenhain (today part of Schwalmstadt , a town near Kassel in Hesse ). François Mitterrand became involved in the social organisation for the POWs in the camp. He claims this, and the influence of the people he met there, began to change his political ideas, moving him towards the left. He had two failed escape attempts in March and then November 1941 before he finally escaped on 16 December 1941, returning to France on foot. In December 1941 he arrived home in
12420-499: Was invaded by the Germans . Mitterrand left the Commissariat in January 1943, when his boss Maurice Pinot [ fr ] , another vichysto-résistant , was replaced by the collaborator André Masson, but he remained in charge of the centres d'entraides . In spring 1943, along with Gabriel Jeantet , a member of Marshal Pétain's cabinet, and Simon Arbellot (both former members of La Cagoule), François Mitterrand received
12535-504: Was ordered to accept the medal as cover for his work in the resistance. Pierre Moscovici and Jacques Attali remain skeptical of Mitterrand's beliefs at this time, accusing him of having at best a "foot in each camp" until he was sure who the winner would be. They noted his friendship with René Bousquet and the wreaths he was said to have placed on Pétain's tomb in later years (see below) as examples of his ambivalent attitude. In 1994, while President of France, Mitterrand maintained that
12650-513: Was revealed in the 1990s, he attributed his actions to the milieu of his youth. He furthermore had some personal and family relations with members of the Cagoule , a far-right terrorist group in the 1930s. Mitterrand then served his conscription from 1937 to 1939 in the 23rd régiment d'infanterie coloniale. In 1938, he became the best friend of Georges Dayan [ fr ] , a Jewish socialist, whom he saved from anti-Semitic aggressions by
12765-741: Was supported by the Communists but the French Section of the Workers' International (SFIO) refused to withdraw its candidate. This division caused the election of the Gaullist candidate. One year later, he was elected to represent Nièvre in the Senate , where he was part of the Group of the Democratic Left . At the same time, he was not admitted to the ranks of the Unified Socialist Party ( Parti socialiste unifié , PSU) which
12880-472: Was supported in the second round by the left and other anti-Gaullists: centrist Jean Monnet , moderate conservative Paul Reynaud and Jean-Louis Tixier-Vignancour , an extreme right-winger and the lawyer who had defended Raoul Salan , one of the four generals who had organized the 1961 Algiers putsch during the Algerian War . Mitterrand received 44.8% of votes in the second round and de Gaulle, with
12995-735: Was the General's response, "It would be wrong to demean the office of the Presidency, since one day he [Mitterrand] may have the job." Mitterrand visited China in 1961, during the worst of the Great Chinese Famine , but denied the existence of starvation. In the 1962 election , Mitterrand regained his seat in the National Assembly with the support of the PCF and the SFIO. Practicing left unity in Nièvre, he advocated
13110-600: Was to be the leader. Under the influence of Henri Frenay, de Gaulle finally agreed to merge his nephew's network and the RNPG with Mitterrand in charge. Thus the RNPG was listed in the French Force organization from spring 1944. Mitterrand returned to France by boat via England. In Paris, the three Resistance groups made up of POWs (Communists, Gaullists, RNPG) finally merged as the POWs and Deportees National Movement ( Mouvement national des prisonniers de guerre et déportés [ fr ] , MNPGD) and Mitterrand took
13225-766: Was to relocate the ministry to another site and to repurpose the North Wing for an expanded museum with improved and larger support facilities. This option was advocated in 1950 by Georges Salles , then the head of the French Museum Administration, and subsequently by other experts and curators. But it ran against the considerable power of the Finance Ministry, whose senior bureaucrats had no appetite for abandoning their offices' convenient and highly prestigious Louvre location. François Mitterrand unexpectedly announced his decision to remove
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