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Paris (AP) -The Louvre, the most visited museum in the world and a global symbol of art, beauty and resistance, remained closed on Monday, not by war, not for terror, but by its own exhausted staff, which says that the institution iscrumbling from the inside.
It was an almost unthinkable view: the home of the works of Leonardo da Vinci and the greatest treasures of civilization, paralyzed by the same people in charge of welcoming the world to their galleries.
And yet, the moment felt bigger than a labor protest. The Louvre has becomeGlobal Expobedurism– A golden palace overwhelmed by its own popularity. As tourist magnets from Venice to the Acropolis Scrable to limit the crowds, the most emblematic museum in the world is reaching its own calculation.
The spontaneous strike broke out during an internal routine meeting, since gallery attendees, ticket agents and security personnel refused to take their positions in protests on immanent multitudes, little chronic personnel and what a union called “unsustainable” working conditions.
“It’s theHere is smoothHe groa here, ”said Kevin Ward, 62, from Milwaukee, one of the thousands of confused visitors cornered in motionless lines under the IM PEI glass pyramid.” Thousands of people waiting, without communication, without explanation. I guess she even needs a day off. “
It is something strange that the Louvre closes its doors to the public. It has happened during the war, during the pandemic, and in a handful of strikes, including spontaneous strikes about overcrowding in 2019 and security fears in 2013. But it has rarely felt like this: tourists who cover the square, tickets in hand, without a clear explanation of why the museum had stopped, without prior notice, simply stopped.
The interruption occurs only months after President Emmanuel Macron announced a decade of durationPlan rescue the LouvreFrom precisely the problems now boiling: water leaks, dangerous temperature swings, obsolete infrastructure and traffic on foot far beyond what the museum can handle.
But for workers in the field, that promised future feels distant.
“We cannot wait six years to get help,” Sarah said of the CGT-Culture Union. “Our teams are under pressure now. It’s not just about art, it’s about the people who protect it.”
In the center of everything, as always, there is theHere is smooth-A portrait of the 16th century that attracts the modern crowds more similar to a celebrity meeting than an artistic experience.
Approximately 20,000 people a day get in the Salle des Ethats, the largest room in the museum, just to take a selfie with the enigmatic woman of Leonardo da Vinci behind the protective glass. The scene is often noisy, pushed and so dense that many barely look at the masterpieces that flank it, work as Tiziano and Veronese that are largely ignored.
“You don’t see a painting,” said Ji-Hyun Park, 28, who flew from Seoul to Paris. “You see phones. You see. You feel heat. And then, you are pushed.”
Macron’s renewal plan, called “Louvre New Renavering”, promises a remedy. The Mona Lisa will finally get her own dedicated room, accessible through a timed input ticket. 2031 A new entrance is also placed near the Sena River to relieve the pressure of the overwhelmed pyramid center.
“The conditions of exhibition, explanation and presentation will depend on what Mona Lisa deserves,” Macron said in January. A Museum in Limbo
The Louvre welcomed 8.7 million visitors last year, more than double what its infrastructure was designed to accommodate. Even with a daily limit of 30,000, the staff says that the experience has become a daily resistance test, with very few rest areas, limited bathrooms and summer heat expanded by the greenhouse effect of the pyramid.
In a filtered memorandum, the president of the Louncence des Cars warned that parts of the building “are no longer airtight”, that temperature fluctuations endanger disabling art, and that even the basic needs of visitors (food, bathrooms, signage) fall well below international standards. She described the experience simply as “a physical test.”
“What began as a scheduled monthly information session became a massive expression of exasperation,” said Sefian. The conversations between workers and administration began at 10:30 am and continued until the afternoon. From the afternoon, the museum remained closed.
The complete renewal plan is expected to be projected from € 700–800 million, to be financed through tickets for tickets, private donations, state funds and license rates of the Abu Dhabi branch of the Louvre. Input prices for tourists who are not from the EU are expected to increase at the end of this year.
But workers say their needs are more urgent than any 10 -year plan.
Unlike other main sites in Paris, such asNotre-Dame CathedralOr the Pompidou Center Museum, which undergo restorations supported by the Government, the Louvre remains caught in limbo, neither completely financed nor fully functional.
President Macron, who delivered his 2017 electoral victory speech in the Louvre and showed it during the2024 Paris Olympic GamesHe has promised a safer and modern museum for the end of the decade.
Until then, the greatest cultural treasure of France, and the crowds that come to it, remain trapped among the cracks.
This story originally appeared at Fortune.com
