The price of an entrance ticket to the Louvre for visitors living outside the European Union will increase as early as January 2026.
The Louvre, the largest and most popular museum in the world, will begin a large-scale reconstruction, the purpose of which is to solve the problem of overcrowding with visitors and improve conditions for the display of the museum's most famous painting, “Mona Lisa” Liza”.
President Emmanuel Macron announced this, the BBC reports.
According to the plans, the museum will have a separate room for Leonardo da Vinci's masterpiece, where visitors will be able to see the painting.
The reconstruction includes a second entrance for visitors, which will reduce the load on the traditional entrance through the glass pyramid. A competition for the development of the concept for this entrance has already been announced. Macron added that all work should be completed by 2031, and the museum will continue to operate even during the reconstruction.
The new reconstruction aims not only to improve conditions for tourists, but also to create more comfortable conditions for enjoying works of art that meet modern museum service requirements.
The project will see the opening of a new entrance that will provide access to new underground exhibition spaces located beneath the Cour Carré palace. These new areas will be connected to the main part of the museum, where the entrance is located beneath the famous pyramid.
The renovation of the façade will be the biggest change to the Louvre's appearance in the last 40 years, since the “Grand Louvre” project under François Mitterrand. In addition, the palace esplanade will be transformed into a park, in line with the city's overall plans for greening central Paris. As Macron emphasized, this will allow “integrating the museum into the city and returning it to Parisians.”
One of the main innovations will be a separate room for the “Mona Lisa”, which will allow Leonardo da Vinci's paintings to be appreciated at their true worth, while giving visitors the opportunity to focus on other exhibits. At the same time, the Louvre's infrastructure will be significantly updated – in particular, the toilets, restaurants and recreation areas will be modernized.
The “New Renaissance” project will cost hundreds of millions of euros, but Macron emphasized that the funding will not come from budget funds, but from income from ticket sales, donations and an agreement with the Louvre in Abu Dhabi.
The Louvre's renovation will be an important stage in Macron's leadership after his popularity declined after losing control of parliament. After successfully presiding over Notre Dame following the fire, Macron is keen to leave his mark on French history with changes to one of the world's most famous museums.
Recall that in Paris, at the Louvre Museum, two eco-activists from the Riposte Alimentaire movement poured soup over Leonardo da Vinci's painting “La Gioconda”, known as the “Mona Lisa”.
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