She’s the star attraction in a museum filled with masterpieces, and soon she will be getting a room of her own.
As part of an ambitious overhaul of the Louvre in Paris, Leonardo da Vinci’s painting of the Mona Lisa will be installed in a special exhibition space — hopefully alleviating the crush of crowds jostling to catch a glimpse of her enigmatic smile.
The project will deliver a “redesigned, restored, expanded Louvre,” French President Emmanuel Macron announced Tuesday, with the Mona Lisa peering over his shoulder.
The announcement came after the world’s most visited art museum had warned that its buildings were deteriorating and that overcrowding was taking a toll.
“Every day, this very room is the scene of intense agitation,” Louvre Director Laurence des Cars said Tuesday in the Salle des États, where the Mona Lisa now hangs. The museum’s “exceptional visitor numbers are not a curse, they’re a source of pride,” she added. “It’s also a challenge to reinvent ourselves and remain faithful to our public service mission.”
The renovation will include a new entrance near the Seine, ready by 2031, to limit congestion at the Pyramid entrance in the Louvre courtyard. The museum intends to remain open during the project.
Macron did not disclose nor detail the cost of the work, which has been estimated to run into the hundreds of millions. He promised it would not weigh on taxpayers — a key point for his French audience at a time when the country is struggling to rein in ballooning debt and plug a hole in its finances.
The new entrance would be financed by the museum’s “own resources,” Macron said, including donations from patrons, royalties from the Louvre Abu Dhabi license and revenue from ticketing. Visitors from countries outside the European Union will pay higher entrance fees as of next year.
The Louvre’s last big overhaul was in the 1980s, when architect I.M. Pei’s glass-and-steel pyramid was unveiled. At the time, the museum was working to accommodate 4 million visitors a year. That figure has more than doubled: The museum received 8.7 million visitors last year.
The French president’s office said it had been engaged in talks about renovations for months. But it all spilled into the open last week, with the leak of a memo from the museum director to the French culture minister.
Des Cars warned about wear and tear at the Louvre complex, the seat of French kings until the late 1600s. She noted water leaks and “worrying temperature swings which endanger the conservation of works of art.” She said a growing flow of visitors was causing a “physical strain.”
The memo also called for finding a new spot for the Mona Lisa to better manage the throngs of tourists who come to see her. The 16th-century artwork will become accessible separately from the rest of the museum.
To create the new entrance, France will stage an international architectural competition and pick the winner by the end of the year, Macron said Tuesday. The work will include some new rooms to expand the museum and a revamp of infrastructure around the museum.
At a moment when “the discourse of force” seems to grip the world, he said, to speak “of culture and art is, I believe, also one of the messages that France delivers to the world.”
He drew a connection to the restoration of Notre Dame Cathedral, saying the Louvre project should “also be a new step in the life of the nation.”
After last month’s successful reopening of the cathedral — a triumph for Macron at a time when the country has been buffeted by political turmoil — some critics now see a president trying to polish his legacy by putting his mark on the Louvre.
His office says it’s part of his job to preserve the country’s heritage and pride.
The French state funds about half of the Louvre’s budget, including the salaries of some 2,200 employees. The rest comes from private financing, including ticket sales and earnings from restaurants, shops and event bookings, as well as contributions from patrons and partners. That includes royalties from the United Arab Emirates to use the brand for the Louvre Abu Dhabi.
Macron’s office said a full diagnosis of the Louvre’s infrastructure had been commissioned in 2023, though some incidents, including a burst pipe that shut down an exhibition late that year, accelerated the plans.
