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20 Jan, 2013

Paris-Charles de Gaulle Airport Opens Espace Musées with 50 Original Artworks

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PARIS- January 15, 2013-(BUSINESS WIRE)–Aéroports de Paris offers passengers, in Hall M of Terminal 2E, a free-to-enter museum. This unique experience is offered to passengers from all over the world through Espace Musées, a new cultural showcase and a major venue for the promotion of French artistic heritage.

The first Espace Musées exhibition, “Rodin, the Wings of Glory”, produced in partnership with Rodin Museum features 50 original works by the artist including his masterpieces – le Penseur (The Thinker), le Baiser (The Kiss) and l’Age d’airain (The Age of Bronze).

“Our ambition is to offer to passengers that pass through Paris-Charles de Gaulle airport each year an emotionally charged Parisian excursion, so that the pleasure of their journey starts right at the airport and so that travellers from all over the world take a final image of the magic of France away with them,” states Augustin de Romanet, Chairman & Chief Executive Officer of Aéroports de Paris.

The exhibition theme, related to flight, allows to showcase some less well-known pieces. For the first time, a series of winged figures and one large wing will be on display, recalling the myth of the conquest of sky and space, a real challenge for a sculptor.

To create Espace Musées, Aéroports de Paris enlisted the help of the best specialists: Francis Briest, co-director of the Artcurial auction house, with whom Aéroports de Paris initiated the project and who manages Espace Musées endowment fund, Serge Lemoine, former chairman of Musée d’Orsay, who is the artistic director for all the exhibitions, Nelson Wilmotte of Nelson Wilmotte Architectes, who devised the Space architecture with assistance from Wilmotte & Associés agency.

The Espace Musées is accessible to passengers free of charge from the first to the last flight and will organize two thematic exhibitions each year.

With an exceptional geographic location and a major catchment area, the Group is pursuing its strategy of adapting and modernizing its terminal facilities and upgrading quality of services, and also intends to develop its retail and real estate business. In 2011, the group revenue stood at €2,502 million and the net income at €348 million.