The Court of Auditors criticizes the structure which manages the Cité des sciences and the Palais de la Découverte

Museography “aging”real estate strategy “at an impasse” and financial situation « critique » : the Court of Auditors singles out Universcience, the establishment which oversees the Cité des Sciences and the Palais de la Découverte, in a report published Tuesday July 7.

The main player in the dissemination of scientific, technical and industrial culture in France, notably through its two Parisian museums, Universcience has accumulated nearly 50 million euros in deficit since 2020, putting it at risk of “strong tension in terms of cash flow or even disruption in the very short term”warns the report.

Skip the ad

“The urgent implementation of recovery measures appears essential”estimate the magistrates. The Court attributes this degraded situation to the drop in own resources, lastingly affected by the closure of the Palais de la Découverte for renovation since 2020, and to a “strong increase in salaries” of its 1,000 employees, who “does not prevent a seriously degraded social climate”.

Also read

For the Palais de la Découverte, it will soon be time for a big return to the Champs-Élysées

Added to this are two major real estate projects. Costing 47 million euros, the renovation of the Palais de la Découverte, located in a wing of the Grand Palais in the center of Paris, was marked by strategic differences with GrandPalaisRmn, which led for a time to consider moving the Palais de la Découverte.

If the reintegration of the scientific museum into its historic premises was finally approved by the government at the end of 2025, its contribution to the costs of the Grand Palais is still not decided, a few months before the reopening announced for March 2027. However, the amount required by GrandPalaisRmn “would absorb all of the annual ticket revenue” of the Palais de la Découverte, underlines the report.

The renovation project of the Cité des Sciences et de l’Industrie, in the north of Paris, “as currently defined for a cost of around 1.5 billion euros”is not for its part “not sustainable” and must be reoriented from “realistic way”considers the Court.

Also read

The renovation of the Natural History Museum and the Cité des Sciences requires “a big plan”

An “aging of approaches”

Concerning its offer, the Cité des Sciences has “favored societal, ecological or fun approaches and gradually lost the link with the field of industry”according to the Court, which accuses him of “aging of approaches” and is surprised at the lack of exposure on “advancements in information systems, the cloud, social networks, mobile telephony, telecommunications satellites and even connected objects”.

Skip the ad

Universscience must “refocus more on its original mission”namely training in scientific, technical and industrial culture, she believes, noting that this last dimension must be developed “particularly through patronage which remains very weak”.