PARIS (AP) — The Louvre, the world’s most-visited museum and a worldwide image of artwork, magnificence and endurance, remained shuttered Monday — not by struggle, not by terror, however by its personal exhausted employees, who say the establishment is crumbling from inside.
It was an virtually unthinkable sight: the house to works by Leonardo da Vinci and millennia of civilization’s best treasures — paralyzed by the very individuals tasked with welcoming the world to its galleries.
And but, the second felt greater than a labor protest. The Louvre has turn into a bellwether of world overtourism — a gilded palace overwhelmed by its personal recognition. As tourism magnets from Venice to the Acropolis scramble to cap crowds, the world’s most iconic museum is reaching a reckoning of its personal.
The spontaneous strike erupted throughout a routine inside assembly, as gallery attendants, ticket brokers and safety personnel refused to take up their posts in protest over unmanageable crowds, continual understaffing and what one union referred to as “untenable” working circumstances.
“It’s the Mona Lisa moan out here,” mentioned Kevin Ward, 62, from Milwaukee, one among 1000’s of confused guests corralled into unmoving strains beneath I.M. Pei’s glass pyramid. “Thousands of people waiting, no communication, no explanation. I guess even she needs a day off.”
It’s a uncommon factor for the Louvre to shut its doorways to the general public. It has occurred throughout struggle, through the pandemic, and in a handful of strikes — together with spontaneous walkouts over overcrowding in 2019 and security fears in 2013. However seldom has it felt fairly like this: vacationers lining the plaza, tickets in hand, with no clear clarification for why the museum had, with out warning, merely stopped.
The disruption comes simply months after President Emmanuel Macron unveiled a sweeping decade-long plan to rescue the Louvre from exactly the issues now boiling over — water leaks, harmful temperature swings, outdated infrastructure, and foot visitors far past what the museum can deal with.
However for staff on the bottom, that promised future feels distant.
“We can’t wait six years for help,” mentioned Sarah Sefian of the CGT-Tradition union. “Our teams are under pressure now. It’s not just about the art — it’s about the people protecting it.”
The Mona Lisa’s every day mob
On the middle of all of it, as at all times, is the Mona Lisa — a Sixteenth-century portrait that attracts modern-day crowds extra akin to a star meet-and-greet than an artwork expertise.
Roughly 20,000 individuals a day squeeze into the Salle des États, the museum’s largest room, simply to snap a selfie with Leonardo da Vinci’s enigmatic girl behind protecting glass. The scene is usually noisy, jostling, and so dense that many barely look on the masterpieces flanking her — works by Titian and Veronese that go largely ignored.
“You don’t see a painting,” mentioned Ji-Hyun Park, 28, who flew from Seoul to Paris. “You see phones. You see elbows. You feel heat. And then, you’re pushed out.”
Macron’s renovation blueprint, dubbed the “Louvre New Renaissance,” guarantees a treatment. The Mona Lisa will lastly get her personal devoted room, accessible by way of a timed-entry ticket. A brand new entrance close to the Seine River can also be deliberate by 2031 to alleviate strain from the overwhelmed pyramid hub.
“Conditions of display, explanation and presentation will be up to what the Mona Lisa deserves,” Macron mentioned in January.
A museum in limbo
The Louvre welcomed 8.7 million guests final yr — greater than double what its infrastructure was designed to accommodate. Even with a every day cap of 30,000, employees say the expertise has turn into a every day check of endurance, with too few relaxation areas, restricted bogs, and summer time warmth magnified by the pyramid’s greenhouse impact.
In a leaked memo, Louvre President Laurence des Automobiles warned that elements of the constructing are “no longer watertight,” that temperature fluctuations endanger priceless artwork, and that even primary customer wants — meals, restrooms, signage — fall far beneath worldwide requirements. She described the expertise merely as “a physical ordeal.”
“What began as a scheduled monthly information session turned into a mass expression of exasperation,” Sefian mentioned. Talks between staff and administration started at 10:30 a.m. and continued into the afternoon. As of the early afternoon, the museum remained closed.
The complete renovation plan — with a projected price of €700–800 million — is anticipated to be financed by way of ticket income, non-public donations, state funds, and licensing charges from the Louvre’s Abu Dhabi department. Ticket costs for non-EU vacationers are anticipated to rise later this yr.
However staff say their wants are extra pressing than any 10-year plan.
Not like different main websites in Paris, reminiscent of Notre-Dame cathedral or the Centre Pompidou museum, each of that are present process government-backed restorations, the Louvre stays caught in limbo — neither absolutely funded nor absolutely purposeful.
President Macron, who delivered his 2017 election victory speech on the Louvre and showcased it through the 2024 Paris Olympics, has promised a safer, extra fashionable museum by the top of the last decade.
Till then, France’s best cultural treasure — and the crowds who flock to it — stay caught between the cracks.
___
Related Press journalist Laurie Kellman in Paris contributed to this report
