It provided the backdrop for Emmanuel Macron’s speech following his election as president in 2017. After a leaked email sparked concerns about the catastrophic health of the most visited museum in the world, he returned to the Louvre on Tuesday to try to repair some of the damage.
Macron declared that the Mona Lisa will be placed in a unique area that is open separately from the museum’s other exhibits, which he claimed would undergo a significant expansion and renovation.
Speaking in the room containing Leonardo da Vinci’s masterwork, Macron announced plans to build underground rooms and a new museum entry close to the Seine River.
He did not reveal the price, but it is thought to be in the hundreds of millions of euros.
According to him, increasing the cost of admission for non-EU tourists could be one method of funding the project. He stated that raising the annual visitor count to 12 million would be another method of funding the project.
Following coverage in Le Parisien newspapers of a private letter addressed to Culture Minister Rachida Dati by Laurence des Cars, the director of the Louvre, Macron paid a visit to the institution.
The publication claims that the director issued a warning about the extensive damage to the museum’s areas, some of which are in really bad shape.
Des Cars allegedly stated in his note that the conservation of the artworks is at risk since some areas of the museum are no longer waterproof and others are suffering from concerning temperature fluctuations, citing poor conditions such as leaks and crowding.
Requests for confirmation or comment on the contents of the document were not answered by the Elysee Palace or the Louvre.
Employees at the Louvre have voiced similar worries about safety, lighting, and water in recent days, claiming that these issues could endanger the artworks.
According to Elise Muller, an employee on French Radio RTL, “it’s a bit of a daily ordeal for our colleagues to get organized and keep the visitor tour moving while ensuring that everything is safe.”
We have to close down areas because of the multiple issues that can occur in the building because we have different areas every day,” she continued.
In a furious statement released on January 24, SUD Culture, the workers’ union at the Louvre, claimed that the exhibition’s 2023 cancellation was unusual due to its condition of degradation.