French president Emmanuel Macron announced on Tuesday that the Louvre will create a new exhibition space for Leonardo da Vinci’s Mona Lisa (1503–06) as part of a major renovation and expansion project expected to last up to 10 years. The project, known as the “Louvre New Renaissance,” is aimed at managing the museum’s massive foot traffic and addressing critical infrastructure needs.
Speaking at a press conference inside the museum, with Mona Lisa visible in the background, Macron detailed that the renovations will include the construction of a new entrance on the museum’s eastern façade, near the Seine River. This development is intended to alleviate overcrowding by diverting some of the nearly 9 million annual visitors who currently enter primarily through the iconic I.M. Pei–designed Louvre Pyramid. An international architectural competition to design the new entrance will be launched this year, and the project is expected to be completed by 2031.
The renovation is expected to cost as much as €800 million ($834 million), according to the Associated Press. Funding will come, in part, from a ticket price hike for visitors living outside the European Union, taking effect in 2026.
The Louvre, established as France’s national art museum in 1793, houses some of the world’s most famous artworks, including paintings by Eugène Delacroix and Claude Monet and sculptures such as the Venus de Milo. However, according to the Louvre’s audience research, the Mona Lisa attracts some 80 percent of the museum’s visitors each year. Overcrowding in the Salle des États, where the painting is displayed, has prompted considerations around better crowd management to enhance the visitor experience.
“We don’t welcome visitors very well in [the Salle des États], so we feel we’re not doing our job properly,” museum director Laurence des Cars told staff, as reported by the Telegraph in April 2024. She hinted at the proposed move: “Moving the Mona Lisa to a separate room could put an end to public disappointment.”
The Louvre Pyramid, completed in 1989, was originally intended to handle around 4 million visitors per year. The Louvre welcomed 8.7 million visitors last year. In 2023, the rising number of visitors prompted the museum to limit daily attendance to 30,000 people.
The announcement of the renovation project arrives amid recent reports that have raised alarms about the deteriorating condition of the Louvre’s structure, which puts invaluable artworks at risk of damage from temperature fluctuations and water leaks. Last week, the French paper Le Parisien published a confidential letter from des Cars to France’s minister of culture in which she detailed these concerns and requested assistance.
Such reports have sparked concern worldwide. For instance, Francesca Caruso—a regional assessor for culture in Lombardy, Italy—took to social media to propose the return of the renowned painting (known in Italy as La Gioconda) to its creator’s home country. She posted on Facebook: “We are ready to welcome her.”
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