LOUVRE STAFF ON STRIKE; RETIRED LAWYER ARRESTED FOR ART THEFT
Staff at the Louvre went on strike Tuesday, demanding a bonus for the physical cost of marshaling visitors past the Mona Lisa and other classics, reports Agence France-Presse. Visitors were allowed free entrance to the Louvre after strikers blocked access to ticket desks. Across the Seine, the Musée d’Orsay was shut after attendants there also stopped work. “The stress is clearly linked to the number of visitors,” said an attendant.
In other news, the Associated Press‘s Jesse Harlan Alderman reports that a retired lawyer who federal authorities say negotiated to sell paintings allegedly stolen by a former client, including a $30 million Cézanne still life, was arrested Tuesday at Massachusetts’s Logan Airport. Seventy-two-year-old Robert R. Mardirosian was charged with possessing, concealing, storing, and attempting to sell stolen goods. “People seem to get away with all kinds of stuff when it comes to art robbery,” said Michael Bakwin, the paintings’ owner and a former innkeeper.
