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Louvre leaky, damaged and overcrowded, warns Paris museum’s director Visiting leaky, crowded Louvre is ‘physical ordeal’, museum’s boss says
(about 5 hours later)
In leaked memo to culture minister, Laurence des Cars warns some areas not watertight, threatening artworks In leaked memo to culture minister, Laurence des Cars sounds alarm over state of Paris art gallery
The director of the Louvre has warned the French government about leaks, overcrowding and substandard catering in a leaked memo that has raised alarm about the state of the world’s most-visited museum. Visiting the Louvre has become a “physical ordeal” as the throngs of tourists, leaks and substandard catering take a toll on the world’s most-visited museum, its director has said in a leaked memo.
Laurence des Cars, the first woman to head the gallery, wrote a confidential note about her concerns to the culture minister, Rachida Dati, earlier this month, which was published on Thursday in Le Parisien newspaper. The document, written by Laurence des Cars for the French culture minister, Rachida Dati, but leaked to the media on Thursday, sounded the alarm over the state of the Paris museum.
In it, Des Cars warned about the “proliferation of damage in museum spaces, some of which are in very poor condition”. Designed to welcome about 4 million annual visitors, the Louvre last year received more than double that number, with 8.7 million people – 70% of them from outside France – flocking to its famed galleries.
Furthermore, some areas “are no longer watertight, while others experience significant temperature variations, endangering the preservation of artworks”, she added. But in her memo, published on Thursday by Le Parisien newspaper, Des Cars, the first woman to head the gallery, was blunt in her view of what often greets visitors.
Noting the French government’s budget problems and the imminent closure of the Pompidou museum for renovations, Des Cars said the Louvre nonetheless required an overhaul that was likely to be costly and technically complicated. “Visiting the Louvre is a physical ordeal; accessing the artworks takes time and is not always easy,” 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.”
A total of 8.7 million people visited its famed galleries last year – about twice the number it was designed for – and Des Cars expressed concern about the quality of the user experience. Concern over the crowds added to the damage seen in the museum spaces, some of which were in “very poor condition”, said Des Cars. In some cases, areas “are no longer watertight, while others experience significant temperature variations, endangering the preservation of artworks”, she wrote.
The Louvre’s popularity was causing a “physical strain” on the historic building, while visitors lacked spaces “to take a break”, she wrote. The memo acknowledged the French government’s current budgetary limitations but argued that the museum was in need of an overhaul that would probably be costly and technically complicated.
“The food options and restroom facilities are insufficient in volume, falling well below international standards. The signage needs a complete redesign,” the memo continued. Even one of the museum’s newest additions – a glass pyramid designed by the Chinese-American architect Ieoh Ming Pei, inaugurated in 1989 and used by the French president, Emmanuel Macron, for a state dinner as the Paris Olympics kicked off in July – had “major shortcomings”, said Des Cars.
Even the museum’s most modern addition – a glass pyramid designed by Chinese-American architect Ieoh Ming Pei and inaugurated in 1989 – came in for severe criticism because of its “major shortcomings”. “On very hot days, the glass roof creates a greenhouse effect, making this space very inhospitable for the public who pass through and the agents who work there,” she wrote, adding that the acoustics of the area meant it was often noisy.
It was used by the French president, Emmanuel Macron, for a state dinner before the opening of the Paris Olympics last July, but Des Cars said it became like a greenhouse on hot days and became “inhospitable” as well as being noisy. The memo also stressed the need to reassess how the Louvre’s most popular attraction, Leonardo da Vinci’s Mona Lisa, was presented. Last year Des Cars said the vast majority of the museum’s visitors, about 20,000 people a day, had braved the crowds to get a glimpse of the painting. At the time, she speculated that the artwork could get a room of its own in hope of offering the jostling crowds a better view of Mona Lisa’s enigmatic smile.
Like in other major European cities, international tourism rebound strongly in Paris after the Covid pandemic of 2020-2021. Des Cars became head of the institution in 2021. Along with moving to impose a daily cap on visitors and extending the opening hours, she has been vocal about the museum reaching “saturation point”.
About 70% of visitors to the Louvre last year were foreigners. The leaked memo adds the Louvre to the list of flashpoints across the continent as officials across Europe grapple with the effects of overtourism. In December, officials in Rome said visitors to the Trevi fountain would be limited to 400 people at a time, and in Greece authorities have implemented a time-slot system for the Acropolis to ease congestion, echoing a strategy already in place at Barcelona’s Sagrada Família basilica. In Venice, long the continent’s dominant symbol of overtourism, local authorities have experimented with an entry charge for visitors.
Tourists have long complained about the queues to view Leonardo da Vinci’s Mona Lisa, which is the most popular attraction in the museum and displayed in its largest room. The Louvre, however, has previously sounded the alarm over its swelling crowds of visitors. In 2019, after more than 10 million people visited the the year before, staff at the museum went on a brief strike, arguing that their numbers were no longer sufficient to cope with the crowds.
The memo stressed the need to “reassess” how the masterpiece is presented to the public, with Des Cars saying last year that it needed its own dedicated room. “The Louvre is suffocating,” the Sud Culture Solidaires Union said in a statement at the time. “While the public has increased by more than 20% since 2009, the palace has not grown ... the situation is untenable.”
Since taking over as boss of the institution in 2021, Des Cars has spoken out publicly about the museum reaching “saturation point.”
One of her first major measures was to impose a cap on visitors of 30,000 a day and extend opening hours.
She has also backed an idea to create a second entrance other than the pyramid to “irrigate” the rest of the museum.
The modern art Pompidou museum, originally opened in 1977, is closing for a €262m ($272m), five-year refit from September 2025.