France is renovating the Louvre museum, the Mona Lisa is moving, announced Macron

© Mark Nouss

Paris - The famous painting of the Mona Lisa, which is the biggest attraction of the Paris Louvre museum, will hang in a special room allowing direct access without visiting other exhibitions. The museum building will expand with underground spaces and will have a new entrance from the east side. This was announced today by French President Emmanuel Macron, who presented a comprehensive government investment plan for a decade-long renovation of the world's most visited museum, which its management claims is in a sorry state.

"The Louvre will be renovated and expanded," Macron stated, who outlined the basic outlines of the plan in the hall where the aforementioned painting by Leonardo da Vinci hangs.

The new entrance is expected to expand the capacities of the existing glass pyramid, which was designed by Macron as an entrance space for four million visitors a year, yet nearly nine million have been flowing into the museum in recent years. Thanks to the new entry spaces and the increase in the capacity of the exhibition halls, according to the president, the Louvre will accommodate up to 12 million people.

The reconstruction of the entrance is to be completed by 2031 at the latest, said the head of the Élysée Palace. He did not mention costs, but the media estimate them to be in the hundreds of millions of euros. An unnamed official close to the president estimated the expected expenditures at 700 to 800 million euros (17.5 to 20 billion crowns), most of which will come from state funds. Macron only referred to the amount of ten million euros that the Ministry of Culture will invest in preparations before the actual construction starts.

Part of the costs could be recouped through an increase in admission fees for visitors from countries outside the European Union, who, according to the president, will pay a higher than the basic admission fee of 22 euros starting next year.

The Louvre Palace, which was built in Paris in the late 12th century, was for centuries the official residence of French kings. Then Louis XIV, tired of the rebelling crowds in Paris, left it and moved to Versailles. The Louvre subsequently became a museum of the royal art collection in 1793.

The last major renovation, opening the current western entrance, was completed in the late 1980s. The glass entrance space in the shape of a pyramid by Chinese-American architect I. M. Pei, which was appreciated at the time of its inception, is now considered inadequate. Among other issues, it is problematic because its greenhouse effect causes unpleasant heat in the underground reception area of the museum during summer days.

According to the museum's director, Laurence des Cars, visiting the Louvre is currently "physical suffering," where artworks are difficult to locate due to insufficient signage, visitors lack space to relax, and the food and hygiene facilities are inadequate. Culture Minister Rachida Dati also spoke about the potential danger to the artworks themselves due to numerous technical malfunctions or large temperature differences in various parts of the building.

The Louvre is not only a cultural attraction but also an important political symbol. Macron delivered his victory speech after his first election to the Élysée Palace in 2017 right in front of the Louvre. The Tuileries Garden surrounding the former royal palace also played a prominent role during the Olympic Games in Paris last summer.