In Paris, the Carnavalet and Louvre museums have decided to stop highlighting ancient numbering, or Roman numerals.
"The choice assumed is to offer a course accessible to all at all times," said Carine Rolland, deputy mayor of Paris in charge of culture, Wednesday at the microphone of Europe 1.
Should we necessarily popularize to make art and history more accessible?
Yes, answer the two Parisian museums Carnavalet and the Louvre.
Because a small revolution is underway in their corridors: the two museums have taken the decision to remove the ancient numbering, that is to say the Roman numerals, considering that too many visitors no longer know how to read them.
Sylvie, 45, seems very annoyed when asked to write 1990 in Roman numerals.
"For me, it's a little complicated, sincerely," she explains to the microphone of Europe 1. "Because I forgot them. It's been a long time, it refers to childhood and we are no longer children. Unfortunately."
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"Louis 16"
At the Carnavalet museum, Louis XVI will no longer be written as such but rather "Louis 16".
It will be the same for centuries.
All this aims at universal accessibility, underlines Carine Rolland, deputy mayor of Paris in charge of culture.
"Usually, museums offer differentiated routes to children and sometimes to people with disabilities. There, the choice is to offer a route accessible to all at all times," she says.
"It seems to me that this goes in the direction of a very beneficial opening for the future of this museum."
In the Louvre, however, we will keep the name in Roman numerals for kings and queens.
A decision that suits Sacha, a young boy of eight with a passion for history.
"I know up to 100. 100, it's a C. 50, I think it's an L. I learned them about half at home and half at school."
The opportunities to use this knowledge will now be rarer.