In 2023, the Institut Pasteur began work to restore and renovate its historical listed building. Behind closed doors, members of the museum team and heritage professionals are working to preserve the site and the objects that bear witness to the Institut Pasteur's history. The first stage in the restoration process was a major collection review, which took place from November 2, 2022 to May 31, 2023.
Definitions for the technical terms in bold can be found in a glossary at the end of the article.
In 1936, the apartment where Louis and Marie Pasteur spent the last years of their lives became the Pasteur Museum. In November 2022, a major project was launched to renovate and restore this listed historical monument. This is an opportunity for a modernization of the museum before it is scheduled to reopen in 2027, when it will aim to offer an entirely new visitor experience.
Before embarking on any refurbishment work, it was important to carry out a thorough assessment and stocktake of the cultural heritage preserved at the site. Between November 2022 and May 2023, a collection review was conducted with the company GRAHAL, which specializes in managing heritage projects and enhancing heritage assets.
A rigorous study of more than 12,000 items in the museum collection
The collection review involved performing an extensive inventory and survey, digitizing, photographing, removing dust and establishing the condition of all the items in the museum's collection. At the start of the process, the collection was estimated to contain 9,000 items, but by the end of the seven-month period, 12,406 objects had been reviewed.
For this mammoth task, the museum team worked in conjunction with conservation assistants, collection managers and restoration professionals. More than twenty professionals were involved in the review.
Removing dust from the frame of the portrait "Pasteur in his laboratory" by Albert Edelfelt. © François Gardy/Institut Pasteur
More than twenty heritage professionals involved
"During the inventory, we check the general condition of each item to see whether it needs to be consolidated before the move. This is vital, although it is not the same thing as restoration work," explains Emma Bonvin, the manager in charge of coordinating operations in May 2023. The all-female GRAHAL team who worked on the review was not chosen at random. They have all completed training in collection management and preventive conservation at the Ecole du Louvre and are able to recognize the materials an object is made of and identify any fragilities so that dust can be removed using an appropriate method.
Since the collections in the Pasteur Museum are extremely varied, restoration professionals specializing in a wide variety of fields – sculpture, painting, graphic art, photography, frames, glass and ceramics, metals and textiles – were involved at different stages of the review. They established the condition of each item to determine whether consolidation work was required.
Packing up glass plates from the Pasteur Museum collection. © Musée Pasteur/Institut Pasteur
Heritage carefully preserved until the reopening of the Pasteur Museum in 2027
The collection review is the first phase in a project that will be completed in 2027 when the museum reopens. "This stage is crucial for the success of the wider museum project that will continue until 2027. The Institut Pasteur's collections are unique – as well as telling the story of Louis Pasteur's scientific work and the history of his institute, they also chronicle various milestones in the history of science. We needed to carry out such extensive work to ensure that this heritage could continue to be preserved and passed onto future generations, comments Laurence Isnard, heritage curator and new Head of the Pasteur Museum.
Inventorying scientific equipment. © Musée Pasteur/Institut Pasteur
Come and see the collections while the museum is closed!Exhibition – "Vikings and Normans"Normandy Museum in Caen Exhibition – "The story of the friendship between Louis Pasteur and Jean-Jacques Henner" (provisional title)Jean-Jacques Henner National Museum in Paris Exhibition – "A history of epidemics"Conservatory of Rennes Hospital Heritage Exhibition "The HIV era. Works of art, personal accounts and interconnections"Strasbourg Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art |
Glossary of heritage terms and professions
Collection inventory:
Also known as a collection stocktake, audit or survey: a process that involves verifying that each item is present in the collection and determining where it is located, what condition it is in, its marking and whether it corresponds to the record in the inventory.
Preventive conservation:
All the measures taken to prevent, slow or stop the factors that lead to the deterioration of items in a collection.
Restoration professional:
They take action when the materials that compose a work or object have been weakened by aging, accidents or handling. In such cases they establish a restoration protocol with the heritage curator.
Heritage curator:
Their job is to study, classify, conserve, maintain, enhance and showcase heritage and bring it to public knowledge. They share heritage with the public, and they encourage and are involved in scientific research applied to heritage.
Collection manager:
They organize and manage the process of moving objects to or from storage and exhibitions both inside and outside the museum, under the responsibility of the curator and in conjunction with various partners. They organize for objects to be transported and oversee their safe handling, ensure compliance with the terms of insurance policies, verify that loans are carried out properly and prepare contracts.