FV 113 INTERVIEW: Inside Le Louvre: through the eyes of a security guard at the most famous museum in the world

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Gilles Malezieux worked at the Louvre Museum for 25 years and allows you to have a peep inside the life of the largest and most famous museum in the world. We’ll talk about why the Mona Lisa ("La Joconde", in French!) is so famous, the hidden passages of the Louvre as well as some stories Gilles experienced why working as a security guard. There will also be a bit of art history (or should we say, business) where you’ll find out why there are many French impressionist paintings displayed in the USA!

This is the second part of a two-episode conversation with Gilles. In the previous episode (French Voices, episode 112), Gilles is telling about the work of a copyist and how to get granted access to the Louvre to copy master painters.

Visit Gilles’s website

Thank you to Nancy for putting me in touch with Gilles! If you’d like to recommend a guest for French Voices, email me!

Vocab List

blindé, e (adj) = reinforced, bulletproof

chantier (nm) = construction site

clim (nf) (slang) = air con

conservateur,trice de musée (n) = museum curator

dérobé, e (adj) = secret, hidden

détonner = to clash, to be incongruous

en voir des vertes et des pas mûres = to see some things that are difficult to digest ; to see some astonishing sights

être à cheval sur (qch) = to be a stickler for (sth)

faire un froid de canard = to be icy cold

la Joconde = the Mona Lisa

marchand,e (n) = merchand, seller

occidental,e (n, adj) = Western

oeuvre (nf) = work, masterpiece

que dalle (fam.) = nothing, zilch