On Tuesday 28 January, French president Emmanuel Macron revealed a ambitious renovation plan For the Louvre Museum, baptized “New Renaissance”. An extraordinary intervention, designed to transform visitors’ experience and face a series of structural problems that have long afflicted the most visited museum ever.
Among the salient points of the project stand out the realization of a new entrancethe creation of an area entirely dedicated to Game and the improvement of the conditions of reception and work. The initiative, which marks the last large cultural enterprise of the Macron presidency before the end of his mandate in 2027, is part of a context of Renewal necessaryAlso urged by the Louvre director, Laurence des Cars.
The announcement, in fact, comes following the publication, by the newspaper The Parisianof some extracts of a confidential letter sent by the director of the Museum to the Minister of Culture Rachida Data. In the document, Des Cars denounced the serious infrastructure deficiencies of Louvre and asked for immediate intervention by the state. However, Macron specified that the project had already been developed for months, in close collaboration with the Museum Management.
Founded in 1793, Louvre took on its current configuration in the late eighties, with the introduction of the iconic glass pyramid designed by the architect Ieoh Ming Pei. Its immense surface of 360,000 square meters houses Over 30,000 works exposed, in the face of a total heritage of about 500,000 works. In 2024, he welcomed about 8.7 million visitors, confirming himself as the main cultural attraction of the France and of the world.
The Mona Lisa changes space
One of the most discussed interventions of the plan concerns the Game which will be transferred from the Salle des États to one New more isolated areaEquipped with autonomous and accessible entrance with a separate ticket. The decision was born from the need for decongest the current roomwhere up to 20,000 people come together every day and create overcrowding problems Also in nearby Grande Galerie, the heart of the Italian painting collection.
The movement of Leonardo da Vinci’s masterpiece, long debated, was welcomed with conflicting opinions. If on the one hand it will improve the use of the work and the museum itself, on the other it risks transforming the Mona Lisa into a separate icon, separated from the artistic context to which it belongs, and to strengthen the perception of a fetish work rather than to A masterpiece of Renaissance painting.
A new entrance and the end of the pyramid era?
The project also provides for the creation of a New great entrance In the east part of the building, on Rue de l’Amiral de Coligny, to remedy the limits of current access. The glass pyramid, conceived in the eighties to manage a flow of about 4 million visitors per year, today appears inadequate for a museum that welcomes more than double the people planned.
Des Cars defined the pyramid “structurally obsolete“, And he underlined the problem of high temperature inside the room below, caused by the greenhouse effect of the glass structure. The new entrance, whose realization will start at the end of 2025 with an international tender, should be inaugurated by 2031. According to The worldThe cost of the intervention could be around 300 million euros.
Less stress and more comfort
Another key point of the project is the Improvement of experience of visitors, often described as one physical test. The Louvre director highlighted the lack of spaces for rest, adequate toilets and catering areas at the height of international standards.
To meet these needs, a New underground area Under the Cour Carrée, intended to host exhibition spaces, a section entirely dedicated to the Mona Lisa and welcome areas for the public. The plan also includes environments reserved for staff and pedagogical spaces for educational activities.
Structural problems and infiltrations: Louvre needs care
In addition to functional improvements, the project faces a series of long -term structural problems. In recent years, various rooms have been closed temporary due to water infiltrationsAs happened recently in the great Galerie. French newspapers also reported cases of mold in the rooms of Egyptian art and French painting.
Another problem concerns the Hydraulic system now passed: in November 2023 the breakdown of a tube caused the flooding of the exhibition dedicated to the Rococo painter Claude Gillot, closed after only four days from the inauguration. Similar problems also hit the exhibition Naples in Paris organized in collaboration with the museum of Capodimonte.
The climatic conditions of the building are another criticality: the difficulty in maintaining stable temperatures puts at risk the correct conservation of the works, an aspect that the restructuring plan intends to solve with targeted interventions on thermal insulation.
But not only: Macron’s plan also includes measures for improve working conditions of the employees of the Louvre, who have long complained about difficult situations: offices without heating or air conditioning and a work overload due to the constant decrease in staff.
According to Christian Galani, representative of the CGT Culture union, the museum has lost over 200 full -time jobs in the last decade. The lack of surveillance workers often forces the closure of some rooms, a problem that also concerns other important European museums.
A financing without new state funds
The entire project will be financed through existing state grants, the revenues of the museum and private donations. Macron adopted the same model for the reconstruction of Notre-Dame, reopened in December 2024 after the devastating 2019 fire.
Currently, the state budget is in provisional exercise due to the failure to approve the budget law for 2025, which makes new resources impossible. In 2024 Louvre received 96 million euros in grants, a figure down compared to 103 million in 2023 and 111 million in 2022.
To compensate for the decline in public funds, there was an increase in the ticket price from 17 to 22 euros in January 2024, in line with the rates of other large museums such as the Uffizi of Florence. Since 2026, the cost will still increase for those coming from non -EU countries, while it will remain free for European citizens under 26 years old.
A future up to par
The colossal Louvre renovation project promises to transform the most loved museum into a more modern, accessible and functional space. If it manages to combine innovation and respect for tradition, the Louvre of the future could really embody that “new Renaissance” that Macron has promised the French and art lovers around the world.