Paris - A strike over France's reduced work week shut down several museums in Paris yesterday, along with the popular Versailles palace and several other monuments nationally, museum officials said.
The Orsay museum in Paris was closed along with the Pantheon, where some of the most illustrious dead of France are buried. A spokeswoman at the Louvre said the museum was closed until midday, but then reopened after only 20 employees went on strike. Employees are demanding more jobs relating to a new 35-hour working week in France.
Meanwhile, travellers across France faced a commuting nightmare yesterday as a week-old strike at the state railway company gained momentum.