當藝術傑作遇上參觀者大潮

PARIS — One cloudy afternoon this month, the Line to enter the Louvre stretched around the entrance pyramid, across one long courtyard and into the next. Inside the museum, a crowd more than a dozen deep faced the Mona Lisa, most taking cellphone pictures and selfies. 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.

巴黎——本月的一個多雲的下午，等待進入盧浮宮的長隊在金字塔入口繞了一圈，穿過長長的天井，排到了下一個入口處。在博物館裏，幾十個人面對着《蒙娜麗莎》(Mona Lisa)，大多在用手機拍照或自拍。在《薩莫色雷斯的勝利女神》(Winged Victory of Samothrace)附近，來自馬德里的讓-米切爾·博爾達(Jean-Michel Borda)在擁擠的人羣中停下了。“這像是早高峯時的地鐵，”他說。

It is the height of summer, and 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.

這是夏季的高峯期，成百上千萬遊客涌入盧浮宮和歐洲的其他著名博物館。盧浮宮是世界上最繁忙的藝術博物館，去年接待遊客930萬人次。隨着新中產階級的涌現——特別是在亞洲和東歐——遊客人數每年都在增加。據《藝術報》(The Art Newspaper)說，去年夏天大英博物館(British Museum)的遊客人數打破了記錄，2013年全年接待遊客670萬人次，成爲世界上第二大被參觀最多的藝術博物館。佛羅倫薩的烏菲齊美術館(Uffizi)今年上半年的參觀人數比去年增長了差不多5%。

Seeing masterpieces may be a soul-nourishing cultural rite of passage, but soaring attendance has turned many museums into crowded, sauna-like spaces, forcing institutions to debate how to balance accessibility with art preservation.

欣賞名作也許是能滋養靈魂的文化行爲，但是急劇上漲的參觀人數把很多博物館變成了擁擠的、桑拿室般的地方，迫使博物館開始討論如何在保證遊客參觀與保護藝術品之間達到平衡。

In recent years, museums have started doing more to manage the crowds. Most offer timed tickets. Others are extending their hours. To protect the art, some are putting in new air-conditioning systems. Still, some critics say that they're not doing enough.

近些年，博物館開始更加註意控制遊客人數。大多是發放限時門票。也有的是延長開放時間。爲了保護藝術品，有些博物館安裝了新的空調系統。不過，有些批評家說他們做得還不夠。

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，梵蒂岡博物館(Vatican Museums)接待遊客550萬人次，打破了自己的記錄。今年，由於方濟各教皇(Pope Francis)很受歡迎，官方預測遊客人數將上升至600萬人次。梵蒂岡正在西斯廷教堂(Sistine Chapel)安裝一個新的氣候控制系統，以幫助化解遊客帶來的溼度，保護米開朗基羅(Michelangelo)的壁畫。該教堂開放期間每時每刻都擠滿了2000名遊客，最近每天的遊客達22000名。梵蒂岡希望能在10月底前完成這一系統的安裝。

In a telephone interview, 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."

在電話採訪中，梵蒂岡博物館的館長安東尼奧·帕魯奇(Antonio Paolucci)說他的機構陷入了兩難境地：爲了保護壁畫，不能再增加參觀人數了，但是“西斯廷教堂對天主教徒來說具有象徵性的宗教意義，我們也不能設上限。”

Museums generally don't like keeping a lid on attendance. At the Hermitage, which had 3.1 million visitors last year, the only cap on the number of visitors is "the physical limitations of the space itself, or the number of hangers in the coat room during the winter," said Nina V. Silanteva, the head of the museum's visitor services department.

博物館一般不喜歡給參觀人數設立上限。埃米塔日博物館(Hermitage)去年的參觀人數達310萬人次。該博物館遊客服務部的主管尼娜·V·斯蘭特瓦(Nina V. Silanteva)說，對遊客人數的唯一限制是“博物館本身的空間或冬天衣帽間裏衣架的個數”。

Ms. Silanteva said the goal was to make the museum accessible to as many people as possible, but she conceded that the crowds pose problems. "Such a colossal number of simultaneous viewers isn't good for the art, and it can be uncomfortable and overwhelming for those who come to see the art," she said. "Thankfully nothing bad has happened, and God has saved us from any mishaps."

斯蘭特瓦說目標是讓儘可能多的人能參觀博物館，但是她承認人多確實帶來了一些問題。“這麼多人同時參觀不利於藝術品，來觀看藝術品的人也會感覺不舒服，受不了，”她說，“幸好沒發生什麼糟糕的事情，上帝保佑我們免於災禍。”

Sometimes, mishaps do occur. Because of crowds, the Townley Venus in the British Museum, a first- to second-century Roman statue with an outstretched arm, has had its fingers knocked off a few times in recent years.

有時的確發生了災禍。因爲人多，大英博物館的湯利維納斯(Townley Venus)的手指最近幾年被撞掉了好幾次。湯利維納斯是1世紀至2世紀的羅馬雕塑，有伸出來的手臂。

Even when the art is secure, the experience can become irksome. Patricia Rucidlo, a guide in Florence for Context Travel, said that visiting the Accademia, famous for Michelangelo's "David," had become "a nightmare" this year because visitors are now allowed to take photos. "People now swarm the paintings, step on anyone to get to them, push, shove, snap a photo, and move quickly on without looking at the painting," she wrote in an email message.

即使藝術品沒有遭到破壞，參觀體驗也變得令人厭煩。帕特麗夏·盧西德羅(Patricia Rucidlo)是佛羅倫薩環境旅行社(Context Travel)的導遊，她說今年參觀學院美術館(Accademia)簡直是“做噩夢”，因爲現在遊客被允許拍照。該博物館因米開朗基羅的《大衛》(David)而聞名。“人們現在擠到所有繪畫周圍，不管踩着什麼人都要往前擠，推推搡搡，拍一張照片，趕緊往前走，看都沒看畫作一眼，”她在電子郵件中說。

Lines outside the Uffizi in Florence, which had 1.9 million visitors last year, are famed for their length, and the courtyard is filled with people scalping timed tickets. (A private company handles ticketing at the Uffizi and keeps 14 percent of the ticket price.) The museum says that it caps the number of visitors at 980 people at a time, to meet fire codes.

佛羅倫薩烏菲齊美術館去年接待遊客190萬人次，博物館外的隊伍長得出了名，院子裏擠滿了倒賣限時門票的人（一傢俬人公司負責烏菲齊的票務，賺取門票費的14%）。博物館說爲了達到防火規定，它限制同時參觀的遊客人數不超過980人。

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. Tomaso Montanari, an art historian in Florence and professor at the Federico II University in Naples, 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 in a telephone interview. "If a cinema has 100 places, you can't let in 300 people. If there's a fire, it's a tragedy."

但是今年早些時候，一些員工警告說，該博物館允許進入的遊客人數遠遠超過了這個數字，置藝術品於險境。該博物館比其他主要博物館要小得多。佛羅倫薩的藝術史學家、那不勒斯費德里科二世大學(Federico II University)的教授托馬索·蒙塔納裏(Tomaso Montanari)對烏菲齊博物館的擁擠強烈不滿。“它像個熱帶溫室——你在裏面無法呼吸，”他在電話採訪中說，“如果一個影院有100個座位，你就不應該讓300個人進來。如果失火了，那就是災難。”

Marco Ferri, a spokesman for the Uffizi, said the museum has been under renovation since 2006 but that some rooms have not yet been upgraded with climate control. "In the next two years, everything will be modernized," he said.

烏菲齊博物館的發言人馬爾科·費裏(Marco Ferri)說該博物館從2006年開始整修，但是有些房間沒有升級安裝氣候控制系統。“未來兩年，一切都將現代化，”他說。

The Louvre, Uffizi, Vatican, Rijksmuseum in Amsterdam and Prado in Madrid all offer timed tickets for sale, allowing visitors to avoid lines. Even museums that don't charge admission to their permanent collections, like the British Museum and the National Gallery in London, have special exhibitions that require paying tickets. During the National Gallery's Leonardo da Vinci blockbuster in 2011, websites were reselling $25 tickets for as much as $400.

盧浮宮、烏菲齊博物館、梵蒂岡博物館、阿姆斯特丹國立博物館(Rijksmuseum)和馬德里的普拉多博物館(Prado)都銷售限時門票，讓遊客可以免於排隊。甚至連那些對自己的永久藏品不收門票的博物館，比如大英博物館和倫敦的國家美術館(National Gallery)，也開設需要支付門票的特別展覽。2011年倫敦國家美術館舉辦轟動的萊昂納多·達芬奇(Leonardo da Vinci)展期間，有人在網上以400美元的價格轉售25美元的門票。

While most museums are closed at least one day a week, in 2012 the Prado moved to a seven-day-a-week schedule and extended its hours until 8 p.m. on weekdays. That followed a redesign in 2007 by the architect Rafael Moneo that improved the circulation at the museum, making it easier to see masterpieces by Velázquez and Goya.

大多數博物館每週至少閉館一天，但是普拉多博物館2012年起改爲一週開放七天，工作日的開放時間延長至晚上8點。2007年建築師拉斐爾·莫尼奧(Rafael Moneo)重新設計了該博物館，提高了人羣的流動性，讓人們更容易看到委拉斯開茲(Velázquez)和戈雅(Goya)的傑作。

At every museum, people do find ways to circumvent the lines, going to the Louvre on Wednesday and Friday evenings when the museum is open until 9:45 p.m., finding less-trafficked entrances or even paying for an annual membership that allows priority access.

在每個博物館，人們確實也找到一些避開長隊的方法，例如，在週三和週五晚上去盧浮宮，因爲那兩天博物館開放至晚上9點45分；尋找人不太多的入口；甚至購買年度會員卡，以獲得優先進入權。

Last fall the Louvre closed for a day after guards went on strike to protest increasingly aggressive gangs of pickpockets in the galleries. Since then security has been increased and the number of pickpocketing incidents has dropped 75 percent, a museum spokeswoman said.

去年秋天，盧浮宮閉館一天，因爲保安們罷工抗議展館內越來越猖狂的扒竊團伙。該博物館的一位發言人說，從那以後，安保措施加強了，扒竊案件降低了75%。

Standing in a long line next to I. M. Pei's entrance pyramid, Manu Srivastan, 46, from Jabalpur, India, said he had come with his wife, father and daughters. 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."

來自印度賈巴爾普爾的46歲的馬努·斯里瓦斯坦(Manu Srivastan)站在貝聿銘設計的金字塔入口的長隊中，說他是和妻子、父親和女兒們一起來的。他們已經等了大約45分鐘，還得再等15分鐘，但是他們不介意。“它是絕妙的學習體驗，”他提到盧浮宮時說，“你總是想學習更多。”