Another new turning point for the Lorraine Museum site. During a press conference held on June 16, Mayor Mathieu Klein announced to review the in -depth copy: the museum extension project, criticized by several heritage defense associations, is finally abandoned. A new plan, focused on the restructuring of the current ducal palace, should be defined by the end of the year. The calendar is greatly modified: the new prime contractor should not be designated before the beginning of 2028, for a launch of the work hoped for in 2029. The reopening of the museum, on the other hand, would not be profiled before 2033.
“We are to date in a situation which is no longer sustainable”recognizes the mayor, declaration relayed in News. “We started from an envelope of 43 million euros excluding tax in 2017, reassessed at 51 million euros in 2024 and valued this year at 54.5 million euros. Each semester that passes is an amount of the order of an additional million euros which is added to the note “.
An invoice that only climbs while part of the site-relating to the demolition of a former gendarmerie at the bottom of the courtyard-has been suspended since last February to a court decision, following a summary summons filed by two associations. If the future of the building depends on the judgment which will be rendered, the option initially retained to build in this location a screen printing glass is now abandoned.
The new project is not yet quantified, but “We will be several million euros less than the final price of the current project”promises Mathieu Klein. Launched last November, the work on the resumption of the foundations of the Ducal Palace continues. On the other hand, the city renounces the project to excavate the court and the gardens to arrange spaces in the basement, which would have welcomed temporary exhibitions and artistic practice workshops.
The route, which remains to be defined, will therefore be circumscribed to the current ducal palace and will be deployed on two additional levels compared to the initial plan. “The development of these two platforms should only take place in a subsequent edge of the project, to accommodate works of the permanent journey”explains Richard Dagorne, director of the Lorraine Museum. “These 900 m² spaces roughly compensate for the surface that is lost in the basement. But it is not impossible that we should review our ambitions a little down for the spaces of temporary exhibition ”. And add: “Finally, it is also the time to re -examine the project that had been written fifteen years ago. To take into account the new expectations of society vis-à-vis museums, by introducing the subjects of the genre, from the relationship to power, the link between history and memory … “.
