Overwhelmed and understaffed Louvre shuts its doors to tourists
Overwhelmed and understaffed Louvre shuts its doors to tourists (Picture credit: AP)
PARIS: The Louvre, the world's most-visited museum and a global symbol of art, beauty and endurance, remained shuttered Monday - not by war, not by terror, but by its own exhausted staff, who say the institution is crumbling from within.
It was an almost unthinkable sight: the home to works by Leonardo da Vinci and millennia of civilisation's greatest treasures - paralysed by the very people tasked with welcoming the world to its galleries.
And yet, the moment felt bigger than a labour protest. The Louvre has become a bellwether of global overtourism - a gilded palace overwhelmed by its own popularity. As tourism magnets from Venice to the Acropolis scramble to cap crowds, the world's most iconic museum is reaching a reckoning of its own.
The strike erupted during a routine meeting, as gallery attendants, ticket agents and security personnel refused to take up their posts in protest over unmanageable crowds, chronic understaffing and what one union called "untenable" working conditions. "It's the Mona Lisa moan out here," said Kevin Ward, 62, from Milwaukee, one of thousands of visitors corralled into unmoving lines beneath IM Pei's glass pyramid.
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The disruption comes just months after President Emmanuel Macron unveiled a decade-long plan to rescue the Louvre from precisely the problems now boiling over - water leaks, dangerous temperature swings, outdated infrastructure, and foot traffic far beyond what the museum can handle. But for workers, that promised future feels distant. "Our teams are under pressure now. It's not just about the art - it's about the people protecting it," Sarah Sefian of CGT-Culture union.
At the centre of it all, as always, is the Mona Lisa, a 16th-century portrait that draws crowds more akin to a celebrity meet-and-greet than an art experience. Roughly 20,000 people a day squeeze into the Salle des Etats, the museum's largest room, just to snap a selfie with Leonardo da Vinci's enigmatic woman behind protective glass.
Macron's renovation blueprint, dubbed the "Louvre New Renaissance," promises a remedy. The Mona Lisa will get her own dedicated room, accessible through a timed-entry ticket. A new entrance near the Seine River is also planned by 2031 to relieve pressure from the overwhelmed pyramid hub.
Until then, France's greatest cultural treasure - and the crowds who flock to it - remain caught between the cracks.
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Time of India
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- Time of India
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Louvre, an iconic museum in Paris, France, known for preserving and celebrating artistic achievements, was shut down on Monday for around four hours. It's a rare occasion as the museum has remained closed just a handful of times. What is the staff demanding? The museum closed its doors without warning because of staff protests against working conditions and over-tourism. Attendants, ticket agents and security personnel refused to work in a spontaneous protest, leaving thousands of tourists stranded and confused. The strike erupted during a routine internal meeting, with one worker reportedly calling the understaffing and overcrowding "untenable". The staff is demanding better working conditions, something that was mentioned in a memo by Louvre President Laurence des Cars when she warned that parts of the building are "no longer watertight". "Visiting the Louvre is a physical ordeal; accessing the artworks takes time and is not always easy," des Cars said in the memo leaked in January 2025. "Visitors have no space to take a break. The food options and restroom facilities are insufficient in volume, falling below international standards. The signage needs to be completely redesigned," she added. How many times Louvre Museum been shut down? The museum was shut down during wars, the COVID-19 pandemic, after government restrictions and previous strikes. In 2019, the Louvre experienced spontaneous walkouts over overcrowding and in 2013, staff strikes were held due to safety concerns. The Louvre's rich history dates back to the 12th century, and it has undergone many transformations over the centuries, but its shutdown is significant. The issue of over-tourism at the Louvre The museum boasts an impressive collection of over 615,797 objects, with 35,000 works of art on display and attracts millions of tourists every year. The museum is designed to welcome about four million visitors annually. But in 2024, nearly nine million tourists visited the Louvre, with an estimated 30,000 per day. A staff of 2,213 that covers 785,765 square feet of area has raised problems linked to crowd management. The foot traffic is bigger than what the museum can handle. There are also problems of water leaks, dangerous temperature swings and outdated infrastructure. The French government has unveiled a decade-long plan, "Louvre New Renaissance", but for this popular museum, fixes are needed urgently, as Sarah Sefian of the CGT-Culture union recently said, "We can't wait six years for help." "Our teams are under pressure now. It's not just about the art - it's about the people protecting it." The museum houses some of the notable artworks, including the Mona Lisa, a 16th-century portrait by Leonardo da Vinci. Ancient Greek statue - Venus de Milo, iconic ancient Greek sculpture - Winged Victory of Samothrace. Over-tourism also restricts people from viewing the artworks and learning about their history. "You don't see a painting," Ji-Hyun Park, 28, who flew from Seoul to Paris, told AP. "You see phones. You see elbows. You feel the heat. And then, you're pushed out." Such priceless artworks have shown endurance during difficult times like war. Especially the Mona Lisa painting that was saved during World War II thanks to the efforts of French civil servant Jacques Jaujard and his team. Mr Jaujard oversaw a secret evacuation of over 4,000 works of art from the Louvre, including the Mona Lisa, in 1939. He prevented the Nazis from tracking down the original painting, probably by using period copies of the Mona Lisa as decoys. Now, a durable remedy is needed to save the artworks for many centuries to come and also make working conditions better for the staff.
