Paris Attacks: Museums and Tourist Sites Reopen

Paris public museums and tourist sites have reopened following the attacks in the French capital on November 13.

Many of Paris’s tourist attractions, including the Louvre and the Musee d’Orsay, closed on Saturday amid heightened security.

The institutions reopened at 13:00 local time following a minute’s silence to honor those who were killed.

A total of 129 people died in the attacks by Islamist militants.

Photo EPA

People were targeted in bars and restaurants, the Bataclan concert hall and the Stade de France.

In explaining the decision to reopen the venues, France’s Culture Minister Fleur Pellerin said although France had suffered a tragic event, “culture is more than ever this symbolic place of self-discovery”.

Fleur Pellerin added the government would help to boost security measures at public cultural institutions in Ile-de-France, the region immediately surrounding Paris.

Its landmarks include the Louvre, which houses Leonardo da Vinci’s Mona Lisa painting, as well as the Eiffel Tower and the Notre Dame Cathedral.

Theaters were also ordered to close following the attacks, but most reopened on November 15.