'Mona Lisa' to move into new room inside Louvre, French President announces
The Mona Lisa will get its own dedicated room inside a renovated the Louvre museum, French President Emmanuel Macron has announced.
The overhaul of the museum, which will take years to complete, will include a new entrance near the River Seine, to be opened by 2031, and the creation of underground rooms, Mr Macron. The most-visited museum in the world has been plagued with overcrowding and outdated facilities.
The Louvre’s latest overhaul dates back to the 1980s, when the iconic glass pyramid was unveiled. Mr Macron said the expansion of the museum would allow the Mona Lisa to be moved to a new, dedicated room that will be accessible to visitors through a special ticket.
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That will make the visit simpler for those who want to see the painting and ease the experience of other visitors in the rest of the museum, Mr Macron said. At present, the Mona Lisa is shown behind protective glass in the museum’s largest room, which is often overcrowded with long, noisy queues of visitors eager to take a selfie with the painting.
A design competition is to be staged in the coming months, Mr Macron announced. In addition, some new underground rooms will be created to expand the museum. A French official said the cost of the renovation is estimated at 700 to 800 million euros (£587 to £671 million).
The renovation announcement comes after Louvre director Laurence des Cars expressed a series of concerns to Culture Minister Rachida Dati earlier this month, saying the museum is threatened by “obsolescence”. According to the document first released by French newspaper Le Parisien, Ms des Cars warned about the gradual degradation of the building due to water leaks, temperature variations and other issues “endangering the preservation of artworks”.