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Price increase, The Mona Lisa moved: what will the Louvre look like in 5 years?

undefined undefined 29 janvier 2025 undefined 17h00

undefined undefined 30 janvier 2025 undefined 09h54

The Editor

© Shutterstock - Anton_Ivanov

This Tuesday, January 28th, Emmanuel Macron introduced his grand renovation project for the Louvre in the iconic room of The Mona Lisa. The President set a five-year timeline to carry out important renovations in the buildings following the call to action from Laurence des Cars, the president of the cultural institution. 

To build a “ New Louvre .” That’s the name of one of the most important material and educational projects over the next five years, carefully outlined by Emmanuel Macron during a speech held at the world’s most visited museum on Tuesday, January 28. Creation of rooms, new entrance, increased ticket prices: by 2031, there will be a “renaissance” for one of the gems of French heritage. Here are the different announcements made by the President.


700 to 800 million euros for the project 

Laurence des Cars, the president of the Louvre, surely didn't expect such an immediate reaction. On January 22nd, Le Parisien revealed the contents of her letter to the Ministry of Culture: plainly and honestly, it denounced point by point the dilapidated state that the museum's buildings have reached, mainly due to visitor numbers exceeding the site's capacity. She urged the government to gather a budget to begin renovations, without which the palace and its artworks would quickly and permanently suffer damage. 

Less than a .A week later, the President of the Republic was symbolically positioned in front of the most famous masterpiece in the collections, the enigmatic Mona Lisa by Leonardo da Vinci, to unveil his action plan. Starting with the numbers: according to his team, it will take an investment of between 700 and 800 million euros over a span of ten years to repair the damages. For comparison, that's the same price as the “construction project of the century” that restored Notre-Dame after the fire in 2019. 


A Louvre that Lives Up to Its Attendance 

So, what impressive projects will this huge sum allow us to undertake? First up, Emmanuel Macron wants to build a new entrance to the museum by 2031 at the Perrault colonnade, to ease the burden on the lone public entrance located under the pyramid, which is considered structurally outdated according to Laurence des Cars.  

In her letter, the president of the Louvre raised another issue: the location of The Mona Lisa. “Elevated to the status of an icon, the Mona Lisa has captivated audiences for decades. As a result of this popular fervor, the public comes in droves to the Salon Carré without being given the keys to understanding the work and the artist, questioning at the same time the...

Public service mission of the museum », she asserted.

Legitimate concerns have been heard by the government: The Mona Lisa should move to a room specially designed in its honor, « accessible independently from the rest of the museum and equipped with its own access title » under the Square Courtyard. More space and curation should allow for a more dignified welcome for international visitors, who make up 80% of the Louvre's audience. 


Non-EU Tourists Facing Penalties  

These same visitors will, unfortunately, be funding the construction of the new entrance, which is covered by the “museum’s own resources,” including its ticket sales. Indeed, as Emmanuel Macron specified, the entrance fee will be “ higher for non-EU foreign visitors ” starting in 2026. However, he did not reveal the amount of the price increase, which is currently set at 22€ per day. 


The Madness of Grandeur 

A big paradox emerges from this speech. The letter that ignited the controversy mainly denounced the overcrowding at the Louvre, and even though Emmanuel Macron has taken steps to decongest its spaces, he also expressed a desire to increase the number of visitors to reach 12 million entries per year – up from the current 9 million – and emphasized the doubled number of school visitors, aiming to boost it from 400,000 to 900,000 per year. Will the Louvre described as overwhelmed by Laurence des Cars really disappear by 2031 with this version 2.0?