SAVING MONA LISA by Gerri Chanel

The Louvre is one of those places in our Western civilisation that we hold in the highest awe and regard. It is much much more than just a building - even though it is old and beautiful in its own right. It has that intangible quality that lifts it above being a repository of stuff, an icon of Western collective history since prehistoric times, holding the art and artefacts of the world as we have come to know it. It is a building with its own amazing history, starting as a palace in the 13th century. It became a national museum in 1793, during the French Revolution, as a repository for art confiscated from French aristocrats and the church. Most famously it houses the Da Vinci painting Mona Lisa. With such a long history, plus being a living icon of Paris and France, it has seen much violence, uprisings, leadership changes and invasions. So with the impending arrival of the Germans in 1940, a huge operation was put in place to protect the thousands of treasures in this building, not just from bombing, fire, looting and disorder, but from the greedy hands of the Nazis, especially Hitler and his high ranking officials.  This book is that story. 

The guardians of the art were extraordinary men and women. Their passion and drive to protect the art, the insane logistical nightmare of moving it - paintings of all sizes, statuary and sculpture - huge things some of these paintings and sculpture were. Ancient Egyptian antiquities, Greek, Estrucan and Roman art, Islam art, prints, drawings, decorative arts. All of which required careful packing, transport by road in rickety trucks with rationed fuel over damaged roads to safe, dry and remote lodgings for however long the conflict would last. And all under the eyes of the Germans, most of whom had no idea what was passing them by on the roads or in the small towns. The top Nazi leadership knew full well what was going on, and the trickery used by the French, the delay tactics, the stretching of the truth, the hiding places, the clever and quick thinking of staff on site as the Germans came poking around - what wonderful, devoted and brave individuals these people were, who saw themselves as the custodians of the art in their care. France was lucky in one respect in that the Nazi who had the Louvre on his watch was also a very cultured man, very respectful of the Louvre, its contents and the staff, going a fair way himself to slowing down the inevitability of art leaving France. 

I really enjoyed the Them and Us style of the book, the strong spirit of patriotism and determination that holds all these people together. Naturally the Resistance features, people aren't quite what they seem, lives are lost, people get sent to concentration camps, But the art survives, the history and culture of France is untarnished, and most importantly the spirit of the people remains intact, strong and united.