The Louvre boss declares that the museum is “no longer waterproof”

Inestimable works of art are threatened by water leaks at the Louvre in Paris, according to a note disclosed to the French Minister of Culture. The director of the Louvre, Laurence des Cars, wrote to Rachida Dati at the beginning of the month to complain about the “proliferation of damage in museum spaces, some of which are in very bad condition”, reports The Parisianwhich published the confidential note on Wednesday. Cars have said that certain areas of the museum “are no longer waterproof, while others undergo significant temperature variations, endangering the preservation of works of art”, according to AFP. She added that the most visited museum in the world was to be overhauled, probably expensive and complicated.

Currently, the museum, some of which date back to the 12th century, welcomed some 8.7 million visitors per year, double the number for which it was designed, wrote buses. All these people cause “physical tension” on the building, which lacks spaces so that visitors “can take a break” due to overcrowding, she added. Even the most modern addition of the museum, the Grand Louvre, including the famous glass pyramid, largely completed in the 1990s, presents “major faults”, becoming “inhospitable” during hot days when the sun warmed up Space, wrote buses. The director also deplored that “catering options and health facilities are insufficient in volume, well below international standards”.

Since she became the first woman director of the museum in 2021, cars has limited daily visitors to 30,000, against 45,000 before the pandemic, and has extended the opening hours. But she would like to add a second entry, a home and an exhibition space on the “welest facade of the museum, a colonnade of the 17th century”, in order to better distribute visitors, the New York Times reported in 2023. There was also a question of moving the Mona Lisawhich attracts around 80 % of visitors, in a room dedicated to the basement. It is currently at the bottom of a large high room, which can accommodate a lot of people but which makes Léonard de Vinci’s masterpiece look like a postage stamp, “said a curator last year, by Artnews. (More stories about the Louvre.)