In a note dated January 13 addressed to the Minister of Culture, Rachida Dati, revealed by the daily Le Parisien and which AFP was able to consult, the leader deplores “the multiplication of damage in sometimes very degraded spaces”, ” obsolescence (of) technical equipment”, as well as “worrying temperature variations endangering the state of conservation of the works”.
“It is my duty to raise awareness as president on these issues and I have already done so on numerous occasions,” she told a few journalists on Thursday, on the sidelines of the presentation of a new exhibition. .
If the room which houses the Mona Lisa, admired every day by around 20,000 visitors, is not affected by damage, this is not the case for other parts of the building in the Sully wing (east side), confirmed to AFP a source close to the matter. This vast space, which extends over four levels, houses masterpieces by Chardin and Watteau.
Flooded room
In November 2023, an exhibition of drawings by Claude Gillot had to be closed and moved after a few days due to flooding in the Clock Room, according to the museum. Other temporary closures of theaters have gone more unnoticed.
Questioned by AFP, the Élysée indicated that the President of the Republic Emmanuel Macron had been “alerted” and that he had “exchanged on several occasions with the minister and the management of the museum”. He “will speak soon,” added a source close to the matter.
In his note, Laurence des Cars also mentions the glass pyramid, inaugurated in 1988 and “structurally outdated” in a building designed to accommodate four million visitors per year but which will welcome nearly nine million in 2024 (including nearly 80 % of foreign tourists) and ten million before the Covid crisis.
Other complaints: the lack of relaxation and catering areas, as well as sanitary facilities below international standards.
The museum is “far from living up to its universal influence”, lamented to AFP Christian Galani, member of the national office of the CGT Culture union, of which he is a representative at the Louvre.
According to him, “not a day goes by without seeing the deterioration of the building, with paint crumbling, rooms, reserves and work spaces sometimes flooded, power outages and delays in payment of providers due to lack of budget.
-Temperatures
“Due to a lack of staff, rooms are regularly closed and the working conditions of agents are deteriorating with temperatures around 10-12 degrees sometimes in winter, and more than 30 degrees in summer,” said Mr. Galani, denouncing the elimination of “more than 200 jobs in ten years”.
At least “100 million euros of investments would be necessary, in particular for priority restoration work, of which only 26 million are assured in 2024, the rest having to be spread out until 2032, due to lack of budget”, indicated to AFP another source close to the matter.
In 2024, the Louvre benefited from 96 million euros in state subsidies, according to the Ministry of Culture, down according to the figures transmitted by the museum (103 million in 2023 and 111 million in 2022).
In 2023, it generated 161 million euros in revenue of its own (compared to 141 million in 2022) thanks to ticketing, sponsorship and the rental of its spaces. Added to this are 83 million euros in revenue from its brand licensing, including the Louvre Abu Dhabi. All figures for 2024 have not yet been made public.
Like many public institutions, the Louvre is relying more and more on its own resources, with increased privatization of its spaces, including the Salle des Estates (which houses the Mona Lisa), and seeks to increase those from patronage.
On March 4, the museum will organize its annual dinner for its patrons aimed at raising funds, like the MET gala in New York, with, it hopes, a number of international celebrities, including the muses of major houses sewing.
The Minister of Culture, interviewed by the press in Paris, also mentioned her plan to increase prices for non-European tourists. “I wanted a differentiated pricing policy,” she said, with the objective of entry into force on January 1, 2026.
