Latest news with #Louvre
Al Etihad
10 hours ago
- Entertainment
- Al Etihad
Eight family-friendly summer adventures in Abu Dhabi
22 July 2025 12:02 ABU DHABI (ALETIHAD)From creative camps to heritage crafts and thrilling theme park escapes, Abu Dhabi is packed with ways to keep little ones engaged and families amused all summer long. Whether you are planning a weekend break or a full summer getaway, the emirate's family-friendly offers make it easy to create cherished memories, without travelling far from home. Here are some of the top experiences to enjoy this summer: 1. Yas Island where 'Kids Go Free' 'Totally Recommended' by kids themselves, Yas Island's Kids Go Free offer, running until September 30, is your ticket to endless family fun. For every paying adult, one child under the age of 12 stays, plays, and dines for free at participating hotels and Otolo Homes. With access to Ferrari World Abu Dhabi, Yas Waterworld Abu Dhabi, Warner Bros. World™ Abu Dhabi, and SeaWorld Abu Dhabi, every day promises new adventures, all within easy reach. 2. Reach for the stars at Louvre Abu Dhabi's summer space camp From July 1 until August 1, young explorers are invited to train like astronauts through creativity. Taking place at the Children's Museum at Louvre Abu Dhabi, this immersive space-themed camp builds life skills through art, encouraging teamwork, leadership, and imagination, inspired by the Picturing the Cosmos adventure. 3. Discover the world through senses at 421's Summer Club At 421's Summer Club, nature becomes a classroom designed to help children connect deeper with their environment and each other. The programme takes a sensory-led approach, encouraging exploration through sight, sound, smell, taste, and touch. The result is an immersive week of creative learning and mindful fun. Children aged between 5 and 8 can attend the week of July 7 and those between 9 and 11 years old can attend the week of July 14. 4. Experience hands-on heritage at Al Hosn's summer programmes This summer, the Al Hosn site brings creativity and culture together with two family-focused offerings. At the Cultural Foundation, young visitors aged 6 to 14 can sculpt, paint, and craft their way through ceramics and pottery classes from July 7-22, while the House of Artisans invites kids to connect with Emirati heritage through hands-on activities celebrating local craftsmanship from July 14-31. 5. Dive into discovery at Emirates Palace Mandarin Oriental's Kids Palace Camp At Emirates Palace Mandarin Oriental, the Kids Palace becomes a world of its own from July 7 until September 5. Built around five enriching themes – sustainability, culinary arts, creativity, well-being, and exploration – the summer programme is designed to nurture well-rounded growth in an elegant, inspiring setting. 6. Express yourself at Manarat Al Saadiyat's Art Studio Summer Camp From July 7 until August 22, children aged 6 to 12 can join the Art Studio's week-long camp led by the centre's expert instructors. With themed projects and daily activities designed to encourage creativity, collaboration, and confidence, this programme is ideal for budding artists ready to explore their imagination in colour. 7. Inspire young chefs at École Ducasse's Culinary Summer Camp Located inside the Cultural Foundation, culinary institute École Ducasse's hands-on cooking camp from July 2 until August 23 is perfect for young foodies aged 6 and up. Across themed weeks, kids will learn to make cookies, tarts, Emirati dishes, and global favourites. With small groups and expert guidance, young chefs will build confidence in the kitchen while creating something delicious. 8. Explore arts and crafts at Al Qattara Arts Centre Located in Al Ain, this arts-focused summer camp is the perfect spot for some hands-on fun. From June 30 until July 10, the camp offers two daily sessions packed with creativity, from origami and balloon painting to soap carving and Arabic calligraphy. Set within Al Qattara's charming cultural space, it's an exciting introduction to art and design in a welcoming environment for children aged 4 to 12.
UAE Moments
11 hours ago
- Entertainment
- UAE Moments
Louvre & Guggenheim Are Just a Walk Apart in This Art Hub
Until now, visiting both the Louvre and the Guggenheim in a single day meant hopping between countries. But by the end of this year, you'll be able to stroll between them on foot, no borders, no flights, thanks to Abu Dhabi's ambitious cultural district on Saadiyat Island. Join our FREE WhatsApp channel to dive into a world of real-time engagement! This long-awaited hub brings together some of the world's most iconic cultural institutions in one place. Alongside the Louvre and Guggenheim, the district will also house the stunning Natural History Museum, an interactive teamLab digital art space, and the Zayed National Museum, among others. A Cultural Cluster Like No Other 'Plenty of cities have great museums, and many have been around much longer than ours,' says Mohamed Khalifa Al Mubarak, chairman of the Department of Culture and Tourism – Abu Dhabi. 'But what makes this special is how close everything is... you can walk between them all.' Spread across 2.43 square kilometres and designed by award-winning architects like Jean Nouvel, Frank Gehry, and Norman Foster, the district is one of the largest cultural investments ever. Visitors can explore its museums via shaded, nature-inspired 'cool paths,' designed to make walking enjoyable even in Abu Dhabi's warm climate. Top Sights in Saadiyat Cultural District Here's a guide to what you can experience: Louvre Abu Dhabi Opened in 2017, the Louvre Abu Dhabi brings together art from all over the world, under Jean Nouvel's iconic dome, a masterpiece of light and shadow inspired by Islamic architecture. Guggenheim Abu Dhabi Expected to open by late 2025, the Guggenheim Abu Dhabi will showcase contemporary art from the 1960s to today, with a focus on West Asian, North African, and South Asian artists. The building itself, designed by Frank Gehry, is a work of art. Zayed National Museum Dedicated to the UAE's history and its founding father, Sheikh Zayed, this museum will feature galleries exploring everything from Bedouin traditions to the nation's rise as a global hub. It's set to open in late 2025. Natural History Museum Scheduled to open later this year, this science-focused museum will feature a T. rex fossil, ancient meteorites, and exhibits telling the story of the universe. At 35,000 square metres, it's the largest of its kind in the region. teamLab Phenomena This immersive art experience is already open, offering 25 digital installations that play with water, light, and sound a mesmerising mix of art and technology. More to Explore on Saadiyat Island Beyond its museums, Saadiyat Island is full of experiences worth checking out: Mamsha Al Saadiyat: A vibrant promenade lined with restaurants and cafés, perfect for waterfront dining. Soul Beach & Saadiyat Beach Clubs: Relax on pristine white sand or book a day at one of the island's upscale beach clubs. Bassam Freiha Art Foundation: A private collection of art open to the public for free. Abrahamic Family House: An interfaith site featuring a mosque, church, and synagogue, symbolising harmony and coexistence. Manarat Al Saadiyat: An arts centre hosting exhibitions, events, and workshops. Saadiyat Beach Golf Club: A scenic course where Arabian gazelles sometimes wander across the greens. Berklee Abu Dhabi: A hub for music, dance, and theatre with regular performances and programs. Why Saadiyat Stands Out Despite some challenges including concerns about labour conditions and debates over artistic freedom, the district is shaping up to rival cultural destinations like Berlin's Museum Island and Hong Kong's West Kowloon. With more than 1.7 million square feet of museum space and a world-class lineup of attractions, Saadiyat Cultural District is positioning Abu Dhabi as a global arts and culture hotspot. By the end of this year, you can ditch the flights and simply walk between the Louvre and the Guggenheim... All under the Abu Dhabi sun, in one incredible setting.
CNN
a day ago
- Entertainment
- CNN
You can walk between the Louvre and the Guggenheim in this new art district
Right now, if you'd like to visit the Louvre and the Guggenheim in one day, you'd need to cross international borders. But with Abu Dhabi's long-awaited cultural district on Saadiyat Island nearing completion, by the end of the year, you'll be able to walk between them. The new cultural district will feature international outposts of the world-famous Louvre and Guggenheim museums, along with other institutions, including an immersive digital art space from teamLab and a natural history museum. 'Many places around the world have fantastic cultural institutions; many of them are much older than these. But I think the proximity of all of them is what makes this quite special,' says Mohamed Khalifa Al Mubarak, chairman of the Department of Culture and Tourism in Abu Dhabi. The project is piloting a network of 'cool paths,' which implement nature-based shading techniques, to allow visitors to navigate between the museums and cultural sites on foot, says Al Mubarak. The multi-billion-dollar, 2.43 square kilometer museum complex is one of the largest cultural investments of its kind in the world, and its design — by 'starchitects' like Jean Nouvel, Frank Gehry, and Norman Foster — is expected to be as much of an attraction as its artworks. Dr Peter Magee, director of the Zayed National Museum, currently under construction, describes the district as 'a constellation of stars' illuminating the region's history, culture, and art. The project broke ground in the mid-2000s and has not been without controversy. Human Rights Watch raised concerns about conditions for migrant workers, which were refuted by Abu Dhabi's Tourism Development and Investment Company (TDIC), which was overseeing the project. Others have questioned whether the Unites Arab Emirates' censorship laws are aligned with the values of the Louvre and Guggenheim. But Abu Dhabi will be hoping the complex, which will have more than 1.7 million square feet of space across its five main institutions, will become a world-renowned tourist destination in the same way as Hong Kong's 98-acre (40-hectare) West Kowloon Cultural District and Berlin's 21-acre (8.6-hectare) 'Museum Island.' As several of the museums prepare to open later this year, take a look at what to do in Saadiyat Cultural District. Abu Dhabi's science-focused museum explores the 13.8-billion-year story of our universe, complete with a research center. When it opens later this year, the 35,000-square-meter (377,000-square-foot) museum will be the largest of its kind in the region. Its star attraction is Stan, the world's most complete Tyrannosaurus rex skeleton, which was purchased for $31.8 million in 2020. The 67-million-year-old fossil will be on display alongside the Murchison meteorite, which crash-landed in Australia in the 1960s and contains organic compounds never identified on Earth, as well as 'pre-solar grains' formed before our own sun, and to date, the oldest material discovered on Earth. Named after the UAE's founding father, the late Sheikh Zayed bin Sultan Al Nahyan, this Foster + Partners-designed museum will showcase Emirati history and culture through six permanent indoor galleries. Opening late 2025, visitors can expect to journey through 300,000 years of local and regional history, including the evolution of the nation's unique desert landscape, the settlement of Bedouin ancestors, and the role of the UAE as a global trading hub. Opened in 2017, the Louvre Abu Dhabi is the first international outpost of the iconic French museum. Its 23 galleries showcase a range of works, from Ancient Egyptian sculptures to Italian Renaissance masterpieces to 20th-century abstract paintings. The collection includes a number of works of regional significance, too, including a 3,000-year-old Middle Eastern gold bracelet, and the oldest known photograph of a woman wearing a veil. The museum — designed by Pritzker Prize-winning French architect Jean Nouvel — has become an Abu Dhabi icon, with a domed roof and geometric patterns inspired by elements common in Islamic architecture. First opened in New York in 1959 in a groundbreaking building by Frank Lloyd Wright, the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum now has outposts in Bilbao and Venice, and very soon, Abu Dhabi. The collection of contemporary art will be housed in an experimental building designed by American architect Frank Gehry, and construction is expected to be completed by the end of 2025. Focused on work produced since the 1960s, the Guggenheim Abu Dhabi will particularly highlight West Asian, North African and South Asian art and commission original works for its expansive galleries. Prev Next Japanese art collective teamLab opened its first immersive digital art experience in the UAE earlier this year with teamLab Phenomena in Saadiyat Cultural District. Designed in collaboration with Abu Dhabi firm MZ Architects, the 17,000-square-meter (183,000-square-foot) cloud-like building is teamLab's largest location to date and features 25 installations that blend science, art, and technology. For example, 'Floating Microcosms,' an exhibit in the 'wet' area of the museum, features unanchored ovoid sculptures in ankle-deep water. As visitors wade through the water, the waves ripple out, toppling the sculptures and changing their sound and color, creating tactile, unique experiences. Prev Next Abrahamic Family House: Designed by Ghanaian British architect David Adjaye, this interfaith center features a mosque, church and synagogue on one site, as a symbol of peaceful coexistence and a celebration of diversity. Bassam Freiha Art Foundation: The only private art foundation in Saadityat Cultural District, this non-profit gallery offers free entry to view the artworks accrued by its founder, art patron Bassam Said Freiha, who has collected for the past 50 years. Dine at Mamsha Al Saadiyat: This beachfront pedestrian promenade is bursting with cafés and restaurants, including the Bib Gourmand awarded Beirut Sur Mer; Niri, a sushi and highball bar listed as one of the Middle East's 50 Best Restaurants; and Emirati coffee specialists Coffee Architecture. Soul Beach: Also known as Mamsha Beach, this stretch of powdery white sand and turquoise water is a favorite with locals and tourists alike. As with most beaches in the UAE, visitors have to pay for a day pass, starting from AED 125 ($34) for adults. Beach clubs: Just along the coast from Soul Beach, Saadiyat Beach is littered with beach clubs. The expansive Saadiyat Beach Club has day passes starting from AED 225 ($61), and the Rixos Hotel offers a luxurious all-inclusive day package (AED 695, $189). Kai Beach Club provides a more affordable option, starting from AED 150 ($41), while the Buddha-Bar Beach at The St Regis Saadiyat Island Resort offers beach access in its classic weekend brunch. Manarat Al Saadiyat: A dynamic arts center hosting exhibitions, workshops and events, including film screenings, comedy nights, and the annual Abu Dhabi Art Fair. Berklee Abu Dhabi: In addition to its education programs, the first Middle East location for the Massachusetts-based institute of contemporary music, dance and theater also hosts public performances. The building, designed by Foster + Partners, initially served as the UAE's pavilion at the World Expo 2010 in Shanghai, China, and was relocated to the cultural district when the event concluded. Saadiyat Beach Golf Club: Designed by champion golfer Gary Player, this scenic beachfront course has views across the Arabian Gulf, incorporating saltwater lakes and beach dunes. Additional reporting by Kayla Smith, CNN.
Times
3 days ago
- Entertainment
- Times
The Louvre makeover that will push up price of seeing Mona Lisa
A baking summer's afternoon at the Louvre. Milling around the Mona Lisa are maybe 150 people, all with their phones held high above their heads so they can snap that enigmatic smile. Meanwhile, in the vast galleries surrounding Leonardo's masterpiece, an eternal throng of visitors from every corner of the globe trudges wearily on — most, this far into the gallery, seemingly oblivious to the glorious art around them. Paris's great museum has about nine miles of galleries, spread over 403 rooms. You enter it from beneath IM Pei's celebrated glass pyramid, which on a day like this behaves like a giant magnifying glass for the blazing sun. Many visitors probably won't venture more than half a mile into the heart of the museum. But in this huge, former royal palace there is one tranquil room. Far from the madding crowd, Laurence des Cars, 59, the first female director of the Louvre in 228 years, sits in her book-lined office, the picture of the formidable, Sorbonne-educated Parisian intellectual she is. If she is physically distanced from the heaving mass of humanity trudging round her domain, however, her brain is constantly occupied with it. 'One of my first decisions when I became the director in 2021 was to limit our daily admissions to 30,000,' she says. 'You know that, just before Covid, the Louvre was getting ten million visitors a year? When I got here the staff said, 'Please let's not go back to that because some days we were up to 45,000 visitors.' And that figure is too much. Even now we are saturated. The building is suffocating. It's not good for staff, visitors or the art.' Last month the Louvre's staff emphasised their grievances by going on a spontaneous strike (a 'mass expression of exasperation', their union official said), leaving thousands of tourists outside with no idea why they weren't being let in. 'It wasn't a strike,' des Cars says firmly. 'It was a meeting with the unions because of the conditions and especially the heat. I put in place immediate measures to make things better and we reopened that afternoon.' All the world's top museums — from the Vatican in Rome to the British Museum in London — are facing this same problem: huge congestion, especially around the handful of masterpieces that every tourist has heard of. But the overcrowding is felt most acutely by the Louvre, which still receives more visitors (8.7 million last year) than any other museum, yet has some of the worst facilities. We know this because six months ago a memo outlining its problems was leaked to a Paris newspaper. It caused a stir not just because it was addressed to Rachida Dati, France's culture minister, but because it was written by des Cars. She was jaw-droppingly frank. 'Visiting the Louvre is a physical ordeal,' she wrote. '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.' Pei's pyramid, she went on, creates a 'very inhospitable' atmosphere on hot days. Other parts of the old building are 'no longer watertight'. Nobody has revealed who leaked the memo, but it's hard to imagine des Cars being upset by the revelation because within days came a dramatic intervention from on high. President Macron announced a redevelopment project that he called the 'nouvelle renaissance' of the Louvre. It's masterminded by des Cars and every bit as radical a reshaping as François Mitterrand's 'grand projét' of the 1980s, which led to Pei's pyramid. By chance it will run simultaneously with something similar in London: the £1 billion masterplan to renovate the British Museum, a coincidence that hasn't escaped des Cars' notice. 'I talk a lot with Nick Cullinan [the BM's director],' she says. 'He's wonderful, a great professional and he's dealing with exactly the same issues.' The most controversial feature of des Cars' plan is her proposed solution to the problem of that huge rugby scrum around the Mona Lisa. She wants to remove the painting to one of several new underground galleries to be excavated under the Cour Carrée courtyard, where it will get its own entrance requiring punters to buy an additional ticket (the price is yet to be decided). • The secret life of the Louvre: inside the world's biggest museum She also envisages a second entrance to the Louvre on the far side from where the pyramid is. 'The idea of having just one entrance to this enormous museum was a nice idea in the 1980s when the Louvre had just four million visitors a year,' she says. 'But that was before the Berlin Wall fell, before the Chinese started travelling, before international tourism reached the levels we have today. We are going back to what was always the case — several entrances for the Louvre.' At the same time the museum will be given a technical makeover. That will take ten years, des Cars estimates, whereas she suggests that the Mona Lisa gallery and the new entrance will be ready by 2031 or 2032. 'We are running a competition to find an architect and will appoint one early next year,' she says. 'And the Louvre won't close at all. That's the strength of having a very large building. You can rebuild half of it and still function in the other half.' One benefit of all this, des Cars says, is that it will help people to get to different galleries more quickly, introducing more lifts and better signage. 'On the second floor we have the most extraordinary collection of French paintings anywhere in the world and virtually nobody looks at them,' she says. 'You start to think, what's wrong with Poussin? The answer is nothing. The real problem is that to get from the pyramid to Poussin takes 20 to 25 minutes, and that's if you walk quickly and don't get lost. If we can sort out these problems people will discover many new joys.' It comes at a price, though. The ten-year project is expected to cost about £700 million. Unlike the British Museum's masterplan, however, at least half the required funding is already guaranteed. 'The technical renovation will be funded by the Ministry of Culture,' des Cars says. 'As for the new galleries and entrance, our trademark licence deal with the Louvre Abu Dhabi [which des Cars spent six years helping to set up] will give us at least £175 million. The rest we will raise from corporate and private supporters.' Even here, des Cars has an advantage over her British counterparts. 'When you say the word Louvre people all over the world pay attention,' she says. The gallery has one other huge income stream not available to UK museums. It charges for admission and the ticket prices are about to go up — £19 for EU citizens and a hefty £26 for non-EU visitors, including the poor old Brits. Sounds as if we need to rejoin the EU, I say. 'Please do!' des Cars says, beaming. But what does she think of the UK's generous policy of keeping its national museums free to all, even foreigners? 'I am absolutely not allowed to make any judgment on that,' she says with a laugh, and then makes one anyway. 'I mean, it's very admirable but is it sustainable in today's world? That's a political decision. I leave you to have your debate.' • Best time to visit the Louvre: top tips for your trip The daughter and granddaughter of distinguished French writers, des Cars was a respected art historian, writing a classic study of the pre-Raphaelites before she started running big Parisian museums (she was head of the Musée d'Orsay and the Musée de l'Orangerie before the Louvre). Surely it must break her heart to see thousands of people using great art merely as background for their selfies, disrupting other visitors' enjoyment in the process? Has she considered banning the use of phones, as other art galleries have done? 'I know they are trying but I simply don't know how you do it,' she says. 'We considered it when I was at the Orangerie and the security team said, 'We can't force people not to use phones.' Also I think it's dangerous to go against the times we live in, but you can remind people that they are in a cultural space and need to respect each other, the staff and the artworks.' • Mona Lisa to get her own room in the Louvre And perhaps be a bit more curious about venturing into galleries that don't contain the most famous paintings on the planet? 'We are already making changes to attract people to less-visited parts of the museum,' des Cars says. 'For instance, we could have put our new Louvre Couture [the museum's first venture into fashion] in our exhibitions space, but instead we placed it within the department of decorative arts and now those galleries get a hugely increased number of visitors, especially young people.' As the Louvre's first female director, can she do anything to mitigate the fact that the vast majority of artworks here were created by men? 'You cannot change history but there are other ways of addressing that question. In the spring of 2027 I'm programming an exhibition on the theme of amazons, ancient and modern — from Greek women warriors to powerful women today. It will be a fascinating journey.' And how is this very powerful woman enjoying her own fascinating journey? 'When I was appointed I felt ready to run the Louvre, which sounds immodest,' des Cars replies. 'Maybe I will be a disaster and someone will have to shout, 'Stop!' I don't know.' I would be amazed if anyone did that — or at least not until the mid-2030s, when she has finished remaking the Louvre for the 21st century. Additional research by Ziba Manteghi
Times
3 days ago
- Entertainment
- Times
The Mona Lisa millions — behind the scenes at the world's busiest museum
A baking summer's afternoon at the Louvre. Milling around the Mona Lisa are maybe 150 people, all with their phones held high above their heads so they can snap that enigmatic smile. Meanwhile, in the vast galleries surrounding Leonardo's masterpiece, an eternal throng of visitors from every corner of the globe trudges wearily on — most, this far into the gallery, seemingly oblivious to the glorious art around them. Paris's great museum has about nine miles of galleries, spread over 403 rooms. You enter it from beneath IM Pei's celebrated glass pyramid, which on a day like this behaves like a giant magnifying glass for the blazing sun. Many visitors probably won't venture more than half a mile into the heart of the museum. But in this huge, former royal palace there is one tranquil room. Far from the madding crowd, Laurence des Cars, 59, the first female director of the Louvre in 228 years, sits in her book-lined office, the picture of the formidable, Sorbonne-educated Parisian intellectual she is. If she is physically distanced from the heaving mass of humanity trudging round her domain, however, her brain is constantly occupied with it. 'One of my first decisions when I became the director in 2021 was to limit our daily admissions to 30,000,' she says. 'You know that, just before Covid, the Louvre was getting ten million visitors a year? When I got here the staff said, 'Please let's not go back to that because some days we were up to 45,000 visitors.' And that figure is too much. Even now we are saturated. The building is suffocating. It's not good for staff, visitors or the art.' Last month the Louvre's staff emphasised their grievances by going on a spontaneous strike (a 'mass expression of exasperation', their union official said), leaving thousands of tourists outside with no idea why they weren't being let in. 'It wasn't a strike,' des Cars says firmly. 'It was a meeting with the unions because of the conditions and especially the heat. I put in place immediate measures to make things better and we reopened that afternoon.' All the world's top museums — from the Vatican in Rome to the British Museum in London — are facing this same problem: huge congestion, especially around the handful of masterpieces that every tourist has heard of. But the overcrowding is felt most acutely by the Louvre, which still receives more visitors (8.7 million last year) than any other museum, yet has some of the worst facilities. We know this because six months ago a memo outlining its problems was leaked to a Paris newspaper. It caused a stir not just because it was addressed to Rachida Dati, France's culture minister, but because it was written by des Cars. She was jaw-droppingly frank. 'Visiting the Louvre is a physical ordeal,' she wrote. '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.' Pei's pyramid, she went on, creates a 'very inhospitable' atmosphere on hot days. Other parts of the old building are 'no longer watertight'. Nobody has revealed who leaked the memo, but it's hard to imagine des Cars being upset by the revelation because within days came a dramatic intervention from on high. President Macron announced a redevelopment project that he called the 'nouvelle renaissance' of the Louvre. It's masterminded by des Cars and every bit as radical a reshaping as François Mitterrand's 'grand projét' of the 1980s, which led to Pei's pyramid. By chance it will run simultaneously with something similar in London: the £1 billion masterplan to renovate the British Museum, a coincidence that hasn't escaped des Cars' notice. 'I talk a lot with Nick Cullinan [the BM's director],' she says. 'He's wonderful, a great professional and he's dealing with exactly the same issues.' The most controversial feature of des Cars' plan is her proposed solution to the problem of that huge rugby scrum around the Mona Lisa. She wants to remove the painting to one of several new underground galleries to be excavated under the Cour Carrée courtyard, where it will get its own entrance requiring punters to buy an additional ticket (the price is yet to be decided). • The secret life of the Louvre: inside the world's biggest museum She also envisages a second entrance to the Louvre on the far side from where the pyramid is. 'The idea of having just one entrance to this enormous museum was a nice idea in the 1980s when the Louvre had just four million visitors a year,' she says. 'But that was before the Berlin Wall fell, before the Chinese started travelling, before international tourism reached the levels we have today. We are going back to what was always the case — several entrances for the Louvre.' At the same time the museum will be given a technical makeover. That will take ten years, des Cars estimates, whereas she suggests that the Mona Lisa gallery and the new entrance will be ready by 2031 or 2032. 'We are running a competition to find an architect and will appoint one early next year,' she says. 'And the Louvre won't close at all. That's the strength of having a very large building. You can rebuild half of it and still function in the other half.' One benefit of all this, des Cars says, is that it will help people to get to different galleries more quickly, introducing more lifts and better signage. 'On the second floor we have the most extraordinary collection of French paintings anywhere in the world and virtually nobody looks at them,' she says. 'You start to think, what's wrong with Poussin? The answer is nothing. The real problem is that to get from the pyramid to Poussin takes 20 to 25 minutes, and that's if you walk quickly and don't get lost. If we can sort out these problems people will discover many new joys.' It comes at a price, though. The ten-year project is expected to cost about £700 million. Unlike the British Museum's masterplan, however, at least half the required funding is already guaranteed. 'The technical renovation will be funded by the Ministry of Culture,' des Cars says. 'As for the new galleries and entrance, our trademark licence deal with the Louvre Abu Dhabi [which des Cars spent six years helping to set up] will give us at least £175 million. The rest we will raise from corporate and private supporters.' Even here, des Cars has an advantage over her British counterparts. 'When you say the word Louvre people all over the world pay attention,' she says. The gallery has one other huge income stream not available to UK museums. It charges for admission and the ticket prices are about to go up — £19 for EU citizens and a hefty £26 for non-EU visitors, including the poor old Brits. Sounds as if we need to rejoin the EU, I say. 'Please do!' des Cars says, beaming. But what does she think of the UK's generous policy of keeping its national museums free to all, even foreigners? 'I am absolutely not allowed to make any judgment on that,' she says with a laugh, and then makes one anyway. 'I mean, it's very admirable but is it sustainable in today's world? That's a political decision. I leave you to have your debate.' • Best time to visit the Louvre: top tips for your trip The daughter and granddaughter of distinguished French writers, des Cars was a respected art historian, writing a classic study of the pre-Raphaelites before she started running big Parisian museums (she was head of the Musée d'Orsay and the Musée de l'Orangerie before the Louvre). Surely it must break her heart to see thousands of people using great art merely as background for their selfies, disrupting other visitors' enjoyment in the process? Has she considered banning the use of phones, as other art galleries have done? 'I know they are trying but I simply don't know how you do it,' she says. 'We considered it when I was at the Orangerie and the security team said, 'We can't force people not to use phones.' Also I think it's dangerous to go against the times we live in, but you can remind people that they are in a cultural space and need to respect each other, the staff and the artworks.' • Mona Lisa to get her own room in the Louvre And perhaps be a bit more curious about venturing into galleries that don't contain the most famous paintings on the planet? 'We are already making changes to attract people to less-visited parts of the museum,' des Cars says. 'For instance, we could have put our new Louvre Couture [the museum's first venture into fashion] in our exhibitions space, but instead we placed it within the department of decorative arts and now those galleries get a hugely increased number of visitors, especially young people.' As the Louvre's first female director, can she do anything to mitigate the fact that the vast majority of artworks here were created by men? 'You cannot change history but there are other ways of addressing that question. In the spring of 2027 I'm programming an exhibition on the theme of amazons, ancient and modern — from Greek women warriors to powerful women today. It will be a fascinating journey.' And how is this very powerful woman enjoying her own fascinating journey? 'When I was appointed I felt ready to run the Louvre, which sounds immodest,' des Cars replies. 'Maybe I will be a disaster and someone will have to shout, 'Stop!' I don't know.' I would be amazed if anyone did that — or at least not until the mid-2030s, when she has finished remaking the Louvre for the 21st century. Additional research by Ziba Manteghi
