Monuments Men
A side note to the film The Monuments Men: relocating the Louvre's masterpieces.
While the French army was entrenched on the Maginot line awaiting the German attack, Jacques Jaujard, Director of the Musées Nationaux (National Museums), took the initiative of removing major works of art from the Louvre. Starting in September 1939, convoys of vehicles formed, heading towards the Sarthe and the Orne with the aim of rescuing the museum's treasures from the inevitable bombardments ahead. With meticulous care, 3,691 paintings, sculptures and other priceless works were taken down from display, packed up and loaded onto trucks.
In the spring of 1940, with defeat imminent, evacuation to a more distant location became necessary. The châteaux and abbeys in the south west of the country provided greater protection for the works of art and they were transported across France amid columns of refugees caught up in the chaos.
As a result, the Mona Lisa and the Venus de Milo escaped the methodical looting of the Nazi occupiers and the ceaseless plundering of Marshal Hermann Göring and the ERR (Einsatzstab Reichsleiter Rosenberg).The Louvre's "war story" ended in 1947 when the works were returned to the museum and put back on display. Far fewer works of art then for the "Monuments Men" to find.
