The figures from the Louvre are dizzying – 8.9 million visitors in 2023 – and would probably continue to increase if Laurence des Cars, director of the museum since 2021, had not imposed a limit of 30,000 visitors per day (it was coming sometimes the Louvre welcomes up to 45,000 tourists daily).
In a letter to the Minister of Culture Rachida Dati, obtained by Le Parisien, Laurence des Cars this time wishes to raise awareness about the problems of dilapidation of the Louvre and the conditions for welcoming visitors. The observation is simple: the buildings of the largest museum in the world are “overly stressed” and are “at a worrying level of obsolescence”.
Poor reception conditions and paintings in danger
The former director of the Musée d'Orsay thus lists “damages” and spaces “sometimes very degraded”, whose waterproofing sometimes no longer exists. Laurence des Cars also regrets “worrying temperature variations endangering the conservation of the works” – numbering 30,000, for those on display, but there are other thousands in reserve.
In the words of Christian Galani, representative of the Louvre to the CGT Culture union, to AFP, “not a day goes by without seeing the deterioration of the building, with crumbling paint, rooms, reserves and work spaces sometimes flooded, power outages and late payment to service providers due to lack of budget.”
Added to this are the conditions for receiving tourists which Laurence des Cars finds clearly improveable. Designed to accommodate 4 million visitors with its flaming pyramid from the 1980s under Mitterrand, the Louvre easily accommodates twice as many today.
However, “the visitor has no space allowing him to take a break”, all in a journey that has become “a physical ordeal” and which requires 2 to 3 hours of visit to see a good part of the works. The Glass Pyramid by Chinese-American architect Pei is also singled out for the “greenhouse effect” created by its glass roof on hot days.
-“The food supply or sanitary facilities are insufficient, well below international standards. The signage must be completely redesigned,” the letter continues.
The question of moving the Mona Lisa
Finally, “in everyone's opinion, the presentation of the Mona Lisa in the Salle des Estates must be questioned”, states the letter addressed to the Ministry of Culture. The symbol of Leonardo da Vinci is found isolated there, a narrow masterpiece in the center of a huge room where around 20,000 daily visitors often jostle to be able to take a photo of it for only a handful of seconds. All of this “without the keys to understanding the work and the artist” being offered to the public, deplores the museum director.
The Louvre is therefore requesting a reaction from the government, if not financial aid (although no figures are mentioned). The museum management has already considered, among the avenues for redeveloping the most visited museum in France, an additional entrance for visitors, in order to rethink the Cour Carrée and its pyramid.
At least “100 million euros of investments would be necessary (…) of which only 26 million are assured in 2024, the rest having to be spread out until 2032, due to lack of budget”, another source told AFP close to the file. On March 4, the museum will organize its annual dinner for its patrons to raise funds, which will already provide several answers to its questions.
