Overnight (European time) news has been coming through of a very serious
fire in the Paris Palais de Chaillot, part of the 1930s Trocodero complex,
which houses several national museums and other cultural institutions,
including the Musee de l'Homme, the national maritime museum the new
national cinematography museum and the national museum of architecture
and monumental sculpture.

Early international press reports (e.g. BBC World Service radio at 1am
British Summer Time) suggested that over 4,000 sq, metres (40,000 sq.ft.)
of the Musee de l'Homme itself was on fire.

However, the latest reports are slightly less alarming, though
this was a major incident with a "Pumps 14" fire engine and crew
attendance level for over three hours, with water damage (at least) in the
Musee des Monuments de France.



Patrick J. Boylan
(Vice-President of ICOM)

City University, Frobisher Crescent, Barbican, London EC2Y 8HB, UK;
phone: +44-171-477.8750, fax:+44-171-477.8887; e-mail: [log in to unmask]
World Wide Web site: http://www.city.ac.uk/artspol/