The Masses Descending On Museums in Europe
歐洲各大博物館門庭若市
By Rachel Donadio

PARIS – One afternoon in July, the line to enter the Louvre stretched around the entrance pyramid, across one long courtyard and into the next. Inside, a crowd more than a dozen deep faced the Mona Lisa, most taking cellphone pictures. Near the “Winged Victory of Samothrace,” Jean-Michel Borda, visiting from Madrid, paused amid the crush. “It’s like the Métro early in the morning,” he said.
七月某日午後，等待參觀羅浮宮的人龍在入口金字塔繞了一圈，穿過長長的中庭，延伸到另一中庭。在裡頭，超過12排的人群面向蒙娜麗莎，多半在用手機照相。在勝利女神像附近，來自西班牙馬德里的波爾達停在人群中說：「這裡就像大清早的地鐵。」

It is the height of summer, millions of visitors are flocking to the Louvre – the busiest art museum in the world, with 9.3 million visitors last year – and to other great museums across Europe. Every year the numbers grow as new middle classes emerge, especially in Asia and Eastern Europe. Last summer the British Museum had record attendance, and for 2013 as a whole it had 6.7 million visitors, making it the world’s second-most-visited art museum, according to The Art Newspaper. Attendance at the Uffizi in Florence for the first half of the year is up almost 5 percent over last year.
今年盛夏，數百萬參觀者湧入羅浮宮和全歐洲各大博物館。羅浮宮是全球最多人造訪的美術館，去年有930萬人次。隨著新的中產階級崛起，尤其是在亞洲與東歐，歐洲博物館的參觀者也年年增加。根據「藝術報」的資料，大英博物館去年夏天參觀人次破紀錄，全年達670萬，在全球美術館中高居第二。義大利佛羅倫斯烏菲茲美術館今年上半年參觀人次比去年同期多出近5%。

Soaring attendance has turned many museums into crowded, sauna-like spaces, forcing institutions to debate how to balance accessibility with art preservation.
訪客暴增讓許多博物館變成擁擠、宛如蒸氣浴室的地方，館方不得不討論如何在開放和藝術品保存之間取得平衡。

Most museums offer timed tickets. Others are extending their hours. To protect the art, some are putting in new air-conditioning systems. Still, some critics say those measures are not enough.
多數博物館發售限定時段門票。有的延長開放時間。為了保護藝術品，有些館正在裝設新的空調系統。不過有些批評者嫌這些措施不夠。

Last year, the Vatican Museums had a record 5.5 million visitors. This year, thanks to the popularity of Pope Francis, officials expect that to rise to 6 million. The Vatican is installing a new climate-control system in the Sistine Chapel to help spare Michelangelo’s frescoes the humidity generated by the 2,000 people who fill the space at any given time, recently as many as 22,000 a day. The Vatican hopes to have it finished by October.
去年夏天，梵蒂岡博物館參觀人次達到550萬的新高。今年，由於教宗方濟各人氣夯，官方預期人次將增為600萬。梵蒂岡正在西斯汀教堂安裝新的空調系統，讓米開朗基羅的壁畫不受參觀者排出的濕氣影響。教堂任何時候都擠滿2000人在參觀，最近每天多達2萬2000人。梵蒂岡希望10月前完工。

Antonio Paolucci, the director of the Vatican Museums, said his institution was in a bind: To safeguard the frescoes, attendance should not be allowed to increase, he said, but “the Sistine Chapel has a symbolic, religious value for Catholics and we can’t set a cap.”
梵蒂岡博物館館長保盧奇說，館方左右為難：為了保護壁畫，理應限制參觀人次，不過「西斯汀教堂對天主教有象徵、宗教價值，我們不能設定上限」。

The experience, though, can become irksome. Patricia Rucidlo, a guide in Florence, said that visiting the Accademia, famous for Michelangelo’s “David,” had become “a nightmare” this year because visitors are now allowed to take photos.
參觀經驗也可能教人氣惱。佛羅倫斯導遊盧契德洛說，今年參觀（以米開朗基羅大衛像聞名的）佛羅倫斯美術學院成了「噩夢」，因為現在准許參觀者拍照。

Lines outside the Uffizi, which had 1.9 million visitors last year, are famed for their length, and the courtyard is filled with people scalping timed tickets. The museum says that it caps the number of visitors at 980 people at a time, to meet fire codes.
烏菲茲美術館去年有190萬人次參觀，館外人龍長得出名，中庭滿是賣限定時段票的黃牛。館方說，已把同一時段參觀者限制在980人以下，以符合消防法規。

But earlier this year, some staff members warned that the museum had been letting in far more people than allowed, putting the artwork at risk.
不過今年稍早，有些館方人員示警說，館方放了遠比許可人數多的人進場，藝術品有受損風險。

Tomaso Montanari, an art historian in Florence, has been strongly critical of crowding at the Uffizi, which is considerably smaller than other major museums. “It seems like a tropical greenhouse – you can’t breathe,” he said. “If a cinema has 100 places, you can’t let in 300 people.
佛羅倫斯藝術史學家蒙達納利重砲抨擊比其他重要博物館小得多的烏菲茲太擁擠。他說：「館內就像熱帶溫室，你沒法呼吸。如果電影院只有100個座位，你不能讓300人進場。」

The Louvre, Uffizi, Vatican, Rijksmuseum in Amsterdam and Prado in Madrid all offer timed tickets, allowing visitors to avoid lines.
羅浮宮、烏菲茲美術館、梵蒂岡博物館、荷蘭阿姆斯特丹國家博物館和馬德里普拉多博物館都發售限定時段票，參觀者不必排隊。

In 2012 the Prado extended its hours until 8 p.m. on weekdays.
2012年，普拉多博物館將平日開放時間延長到晚上八時。

For many museum visitors, though, braving the crowds and standing in long lines are worth it.
不過，對許多參觀博物館的人而言，人擠人、排長隊都值得。

At the Louvre, Manu Srivastan, 46, from Jabalpur, India, said he had come with his family. They had been waiting for about 45 minutes, with 15 more to go, but they didn’t mind. “It’s a wonderful learning experience,” he said of the Louvre. “You’re always left wanting more.”
在羅浮宮，來自印度賈巴爾普爾的46歲參觀者斯里華斯坦說，他跟家人一起來。他們大概等了45分鐘，還得等15分鐘，卻不在意。他說：「這是很棒的學習經驗，羅浮宮總讓你覺得沒看夠。」

原文參照：
http://www.nytimes.com/2014/07/29/arts/design/european-museums-straining-under-weight-of-popularity.html

2014-08-12聯合報/G5版/UNITEDDAILYNEWS 李京倫譯 原文參見紐時週報十二版左