See The Mona Lisa may soon have a higher price, whether you are from the European Union or not. This wish of the French Minister of Culture Rachida Dati poses a number of practical problems, according to those in the cultural world interviewed.
The Louvre, which welcomed 8.7 million visitors in 2024, including 80% foreign tourists (13% Americans), suffers from major problems of dilapidation and visiting conditions have become difficult, its president and director recently warned. , Laurence des Cars. Water infiltration or even flooding, obsolescence of equipment, temperature problems which endanger the conservation of the works… The budget necessary to remedy these problems would amount to “several hundred million euros while the balance budget is more than precarious and awaiting ministerial commitments,” according to a source close to the matter.
Doubts about “practical arrangements”
In response, Rachida Dati said she would like “a differentiated pricing policy from 1is January 2026.” This higher rate for foreign tourists from outside the EU already exists in the United States, Cambodia or Morocco, and even in Italy, notes his ministry. The minister “had already proposed it in October for the Notre-Dame cathedral in Paris, asking on this occasion the Louvre, the Orsay Museum and the Versailles estate to think about the subject,” he adds.
“We understand that this option is on the table but it requires reflection as to the practical modalities,” underline several major museum institutions on condition of anonymity while the Louvre remains silent. They point out “the complexity” of such an implementation which appears “rushed”, according to one of them, “in view of the significant modifications that it implies for the reservation systems and the implementation of controls of systematic physical identity.
“What will happen for dual nationals, foreigners in France, mixed couples and groups within tour operators? “, she asks.
But a hypothesis that is justified economically
For cultural economist Françoise Benhamou, former member of the board of directors of the Louvre, “testing this hypothesis is economically justified”. Especially since “the further away the visitor comes, the less likely he or she will give up a large museum because of the prices,” she says.
She advocates an “experiment” and does not see any “legal risk” – for the protection of personal data – believing that identity checks already exist everywhere in museums and that “French and Europeans have already paid indirectly for these public institutions through their taxes.”
-CGT representative at the Louvre, Christian Galani considers differentiated pricing “complex to implement” and “discriminatory”. “It is the opposite of equal access to culture – the minister’s mainstay – and it risks further increasing inequalities,” he said.
In 2024, a year marked by a loss of attendance during the Paris Olympic and Paralympic Games, 28% of the foreign public and 65% of the French public benefited from its free admission (under 25s, unemployed, beneficiaries of minimum social benefits, disabled and accompanying persons, teachers, cultural professionals and journalists) compared to respectively 40% and 60% in 2023, according to the museum.
The Pantheon becomes chargeable in Rome
In Rome, the Pantheon, the most visited monument in Italy with around nine million visitors per year, became chargeable in July 2023. Each tourist must now pay five euros to visit it, except minors, accompanying persons school groups, residents of the Eternal City as well as Europeans under 25 years old.
With decreasing state subsidies (96 million euros in 2024, 103 in 2023 and 111 in 2022), 161 million in own resources in 2023 (ticketing, rental of spaces, sponsorship, 141 million in 2022) and 83 million euros in brand licensing revenue (Abu Dhabi), the Louvre is struggling to generate enough funds to finance all of its restoration and innovation projects.
Macron at the Louvre on Tuesday
The construction of a new entrance in order to decongest the pyramid, originally designed to accommodate 4 million visitors, and the installation of a department of the arts of Byzantium and Eastern Christendom, are among its major projects. Improving the conditions of the visit, in terms of temperatures, but also by offering more relaxation, catering and sanitary areas to the public, is also urgent, according to its president. President Emmanuel Macron will go to the Louvre on Tuesday to speak about the deterioration of the state of the museum.
