April 18, 2008

Underground art in Paris

With the Paris Metro currently undergoing an extensive renovation process, but unlike any other renovation project the workers have been discovering some lost works of art. Well not art exactly but what they have finding underneath the many coats of paint are some lost treasures.

As the walls were stripped underneath some of the walls have been stripped to the time when the Metro first opened over a hundred years ago. On the walls are posters and paintings which in their time were the advertisements that Parisians would have seen.

Now once again these old masters are being exposed, but only to be destroyed either by the air or by the renovation programme. The people in charge of the renovation the Regie Autonome des Transports Parisiens (RATP) are committed to renovation and not conservation.

Source [Independent]