‘Mona Lisa’ upgrade plans include moving to separate room underground: NPR

Visitors observe the painting Mona Lisa by Italian artist Leonardo da Vinci exhibited in a gallery at the Louvre on May 19, 2021 in Paris, France.

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Visitors observe the painting Mona Lisa by Italian artist Leonardo da Vinci exhibited in a gallery at the Louvre on May 19, 2021 in Paris, France.

Marc Piasecki/Getty Images

The room that houses the Mona Lisa at the Louvre Museum in Paris was last renovated only five years ago, in 2019.

But the museum is already planning to make further improvements.

In an interview given to the French channel France Inter, excerpts of which are available on social networksLouvre director Laurence des Cars said her institution now seeks to improve both the conditions surrounding Leonardo da Vinci’s iconic Renaissance painting, as well as the overall visitor experience.

“I place at the heart of my mission as a director to better welcome the public. And it’s always frustrating when our visit experience isn’t quite up to par — as is, obviously, the case with the Mona Lisa“, said des Cars in the France Inter interview on Friday. “We are therefore thinking, in collaboration with the Ministry of Culture, about the necessary improvements.”

According to an article published last week in the French newspaper Le Figaro, plans involve moving the painting, which is worth more than $830 million by some estimates, to a separate underground room. Currently, the Mona Lisa shares a large room with other works of art.

The proposed improvements, according to Le Figaro, would create two underground entry points for visitors: one for the Mona Lisa and the other for temporary exhibitions. The estimated renovation budget is 500 million euros (approximately $535 million). But the price could be affected by state budget cuts.

A visitor photographs the painting Mona Lisa by the Italian artist Leonardo da Vinci exhibited in a Louvre gallery on May 19, 2021 in Paris.

Marc Piasecki/Getty Images

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Marc Piasecki/Getty Images

A visitor photographs the painting Mona Lisa by the Italian artist Leonardo da Vinci exhibited in a Louvre gallery on May 19, 2021 in Paris.

Marc Piasecki/Getty Images

The Louvre is the most visited museum in the world, attracting 8 to 10 million people last year, and the Mona Lisa is by far its biggest attraction. The museum receives between 20 and 30,000 visitors daily.

But many museum visitors complain of queuing for hours, sweltering conditions and being able to spend only seconds admiring the painting, which is kept behind bulletproof glass.

A recent analysis of visitors’ online reviews of major museums and their most popular works of art cited the Mona Lisa as “the world’s most disappointing masterpiece”, due to negativity from almost 40% of reviews.

THE Mona Lisa itself has also been the target of numerous attacks over the years. In January, climate change activists threw soup on the board. The work itself was not damaged.

As Paris hosts the Olympic Games this summer, the Louvre is expecting a deluge of visitors. Last week, the museum opened a special exhibition dedicated to the origins of this global sporting event.