The Mona Lisa, the world’s most famous portrait by Leonardo da Vinci, will be relocated to a private room in the Louvre as the Paris museum undergoes a major renovation.
The portrait currently hangs in the Louvre’s largest room, which also features 16th century works by Venetian painters. In recent years, overcrowding has become a major problem – trying to view the Mona Lisa is usually a game of dodging past others in a sea of arms holding up mobile phones.
Viewing the masterpiece has become so difficult that the Louvre’s director Laurence des Cars warned that visiting the overcrowded building had become a “physical ordeal”, as thousands of tourists flock to see da Vinci’s 16th century masterpiece each week.
French President Emmanual Macron delivered a speech on Tuesday at the gallery (28 January), announcing that the portrait would be given its own “special place” within the Louvre, separating it from the rest of the museum with its “own access pass” making it “independently accessible compared to the rest of a museum”.
Macron also announced that from 1 January 2026, visitors from countries outside the EU would pay a higher entrance fee.
Last year, the Louvre had 8.7 million visitors, with 75 per cent of those coming from outside of France, predominantly from the US, China, Italy, the UK, Germany and Spain.
Macron has said that the museum post-renovation will allow 12 million people to visit each year, since creating more space is the top priority for the project. The overhaul will include a new entrance near the Sein, to be opened in 2031, as well as a new underground room.
He said the new entrance would be financed by the museum’s own resources and by patrons, not by French taxpayers, and that a competition would be held to choose an architect for the project.
The museum underwent a grand renovation in the Eighties with the creation of the iconic glass pyramid by the Chinese-American architect IM Pei, which, at the time, was designed to accommodate a capacity of only four million visitors. Since the number of visitors has swelled in size, visitors face long queue times to get into the building since the glass entrance is the only entrance point.
Macron said: “Today, nine million visitors a year is obviously a treasure, but the access, flow and security do not allow people to visit the establishment in the best conditions.”
He did not confirm how much the renovation would cost, but it is estimated at hundreds of millions of euros.
Des Cars, who spoke before Macron, said: “The Louvre is more than a museum, it’s part of our French identity.”
Doubt has been cast over the possibility of the ambitious renovation project, however. In a note to the cultural ministry leaked to French media last week, des Cars highlighted that the space below the pyramid would be insufficient to be made into new gallery rooms, raising the alarm over various issues such as lack of insulation and temperature swings that could damage the artworks. Issues in other parts of the museum highlighted included water leaks, overcrowding and other damage.
