She’s the star attraction in a museum crammed with masterpieces, and shortly she will likely be getting a room of her personal.
As a part of an bold overhaul of the Louvre in Paris, Leonardo da Vinci’s portray of the Mona Lisa will likely be put in in a particular exhibition area — hopefully assuaging the crush of crowds jostling to catch a glimpse of her enigmatic smile.
The venture will ship a “redesigned, restored, expanded Louvre,” French President Emmanuel Macron introduced Tuesday, with the Mona Lisa peering over his shoulder.
The announcement got here after the world’s most visited artwork museum had warned that its buildings have been deteriorating and that overcrowding was taking a toll.
“On daily basis, this very room is the scene of intense agitation,” Louvre Director Laurence des Automobiles stated Tuesday within the Salle des États, the place the Mona Lisa now hangs. The museum’s “distinctive customer numbers will not be a curse, they’re a supply of delight,” she added. “It’s additionally a problem to reinvent ourselves and stay devoted to our public service mission.”
The renovation will embody a brand new entrance close to the Seine, prepared by 2031, to restrict congestion on the Pyramid entrance within the Louvre courtyard. The museum intends to stay open in the course of the venture.
Macron didn’t disclose nor element the price of the work, which has been estimated to run into the tons of of thousands and thousands. He promised it could not weigh on taxpayers — a key level for his French viewers at a time when the nation is struggling to rein in ballooning debt and plug a gap in its funds.
The brand new entrance can be financed by the museum’s “personal sources,” Macron stated, together with donations from patrons, royalties from the Louvre Abu Dhabi license and income from ticketing. Guests from international locations outdoors the European Union pays increased entrance charges as of subsequent yr.
The Louvre’s final huge overhaul was within the Nineteen Eighties, when architect I.M. Pei’s glass-and-steel pyramid was unveiled. On the time, the museum was working to accommodate 4 million guests a yr. That determine has greater than doubled: The museum obtained 8.7 million guests final yr.
The French president’s workplace stated it had been engaged in talks about renovations for months. However it all spilled into the open final week, with the leak of a memo from the museum director to the French tradition minister.
Des Automobiles warned about put on and tear on the Louvre complicated, the seat of French kings till the late 1600s. She famous water leaks and “worrying temperature swings which endanger the conservation of artistic endeavors.” She stated a rising stream of holiday makers was inflicting a “bodily pressure.”
The memo additionally known as for locating a brand new spot for the Mona Lisa to higher handle the throngs of vacationers who come to see her. The Sixteenth-century art work will turn out to be accessible individually from the remainder of the museum.
To create the brand new entrance, France will stage a world architectural competitors and choose the winner by the top of the yr, Macron stated Tuesday. The work will embody some new rooms to broaden the museum and a revamp of infrastructure across the museum.
At a second when “the discourse of pressure” appears to grip the world, he stated, to talk “of tradition and artwork is, I imagine, additionally one of many messages that France delivers to the world.”
He drew a connection to the restoration of Notre Dame Cathedral, saying the Louvre venture ought to “even be a brand new step within the lifetime of the nation.”
After final month’s profitable reopening of the cathedral — a triumph for Macron at a time when the nation has been buffeted by political turmoil — some critics now see a president making an attempt to shine his legacy by placing his mark on the Louvre.
His workplace says it’s a part of his job to protect the nation’s heritage and delight.
The French state funds about half of the Louvre’s price range, together with the salaries of some 2,200 workers. The remaining comes from non-public financing, together with ticket gross sales and earnings from eating places, retailers and occasion bookings, in addition to contributions from patrons and companions. That features royalties from the United Arab Emirates to make use of the model for the Louvre Abu Dhabi.
Macron’s workplace stated a full analysis of the Louvre’s infrastructure had been commissioned in 2023, although some incidents, together with a burst pipe that shut down an exhibition late that yr, accelerated the plans.
