The Minister of Culture, Rachida Dati, announced this Thursday, January 23, wanting to set up a differentiated pricing policy from January 1, 2026 for the Louvre. The objective is to use foreign visitors more to use, outside the European Union.
Rachida Dati at the bedside of the Louvre. Alerted to the state of the emblematic Parisian museum, the Minister of Culture wishes to bail out the funds of the establishment. “You have to be innovative, including for funding,” she said this Thursday, January 23, against the press.
Funding that the most visited museum in the world would need, according to its director Laurence des Cars. In a note addressed to Rachida Dati, and revealed this Thursday, January 24, the latter sounded the alert to the dilapidation of the places and the reception conditions while requesting financial support.
Heard in April 2024 by the Cultural Affairs Committee in the National Assembly, Laurence des Cars had already mentioned the “structural difficulties” of the establishment and the “multiplication of damage in certain spaces of the museum”.
New prices in 2026
For Rachida Dati, one of the work areas must in particular relate to the price of tickets
“I wanted a differentiated pricing policy which will be implemented from January 1, 2026 and which will notably finance this new museum project,” she said.
Contacted by BFMTV.com, the Ministry of Culture confirms that this differentiated pricing aims to make visitors outside the European Union pay more. In 2024, 77% of visitors were foreign, 23% were American and 6% Chinese, according to the Louvre.
Currently, the museum already offers a differentiated pricing policy according to the profiles of visitors.
-Residents aged 18 and 26 from the countries of the European Economic Area enjoy free entry, as well as visitors with disabilities as well as job seekers or beneficiaries of social minima. The questioning of this pricing is not on the agenda, indicates the Ministry of Culture in BFMTV.com
Stay “the largest museum in the world”
This new differentiated pricing policy is part of a reflection started by the minister since 2024 to improve the experience of visitors but also the working environment for museum staff.
“The conditions of visit and working are not up to the Louvre,” she said. “We have been differs for the work for years and the more you difference the more they worsen,” she added to journalists.
The Minister of Culture also indicated that the President of the Republic was “aware” in the challenge of renovating the Louvre. Ads should be made soon, according to the mayor of the 7th arrondissement of Paris.
“We have been working on this subject for months, the Louvre will remain the largest museum in the world and will become the most beautiful museum in the world,” concluded Rachida Dati.
Emmanuel Macron will go to the Louvre, this Tuesday, January 28, learned BFMTV, confirming information on RTL. The president will give a speech there.
In 2023, the establishment carried out 161 million euros in revenue thanks to the ticket office, patronage and the rental of spaces. The figures for 2024 have not yet been communicated.
