A view of the entrance of the Radium Institute in Paris, the historic site of physicist and chemist Marie Curie's laboratory. Photo: AFP
A small Paris building used by double Nobel winner Marie Curie will be moved rather than torn down, French Culture Minister Rachida Dati said on Wednesday, hoping to put an end to a months-long row.
The Pavillon des Sources "will not be destroyed" but "moved a few metres ... brick by brick", Dati told broadcaster France Inter.
A high-tech cancer research centre is planned by the Institut Curie at the site in Paris's touristy Latin Quarter.
But history buffs had protested at the demolition of a building they say was vital to Marie Curie's pioneering work on radiation more than 100 years ago.
Dati's predecessor at the culture ministry, Rima Abdul Malak, had earlier this month put the plans on hold while searching for a compromise.
"The centre for fighting cancer will be able to be developed and modernised" under the new deal, Dati said.
Institut Curie chief Thierry Philip has insisted that Curie herself only used the Pavillon des Sources to store radioactive waste.
But the Curie museum says she trained people there to manufacture radium capsules, used to disinfect the wounds of World War I casualties.
"This was a crucial part of Marie Curie's historic laboratory," Baptiste Gianeselli, a campaigner against the project, told AFP in December.
The demolition of the Pavillon des Sources had been green-lighted by Paris mayor Anne Hidalgo, whose fierce rival Dati hopes to unseat her in 2026 municipal elections. - AFP
