The Louvre is suffering from water leaks and overcrowding, its director, Laurence des Cars, warned in a leaked missive to the French culture minister.
Des Cars, the first woman to lead the museum, told culture minister Rachida Dati, that the museum’s deteriorating facilities threaten its world-famous art collection.
There is a “proliferation of damage in museum spaces, some of which are in very poor condition,” Des Cars wrote in the memo, which was published on Thursday by Le Parisien newspaper. She continued that some sections of the museum “are no longer watertight, while others experience significant temperature variations, endangering the preservation of artworks.”
A major overhaul of the museum was needed, she added, despite the outside complications of the five-year closure of the Centre Pompidou for its own renovation, and the French government’s budget crisis. The Louvre is a national museum, so a significant percentage of its operating costs, including maintenance, are paid for by the state. A renovation of the magnitude that des Carnes deemed necessary would be an unprecedented expense.
The Louvre is also the most popular museum in the world, reporting around 8.7 visitors to its galleries in 2024. However, that popularity is causing a “physical strain” on the 232-year-old building, while spaces for visitors “to take a break” are growing sparse, she wrote.
“The food options and restroom facilities are insufficient in volume, falling well below international standards. The signage needs a complete redesign,” Des Cars wrote. She scrutinized, too, the museum’s most modern feature—the glass pyramid designed by Chinese American architect I. M. Pei and opened in 1989—for its “major shortcomings”. According to Des Cars, the pyramid traps heat like a greenhouse, making summer events, like the dinner hosted in July by the French president, Emmanuel Macron, to commemorate the most recent Olympics, “inhospitable.” It doesn’t help, she said, that the pyramid was noisy.
The pyramid was used by French president Emmanuel Macron for a state dinner before the opening of the Paris Olympics last July, but Des Cars said it became like a greenhouse on hot days and became “inhospitable” as well as being noisy.
The memo took aim, too, at the museum’s star attraction, the Mona Lisa. According to the Louvre’s own findings, some 80 percent of ticket holders visit the Salle des États to see the 16th century portrait—that’s between 20,000-30,000 visitors a day, well beyond what the historic gallery was intended to accommodate. Des Cars stressed in the memo the need to “reassess” the display of the Mona Lisa, with one alternative, a dedicated room of its own, having already been introduced by her last year.
Since assuming leadership of the museum in 2021, the first woman to do so in its history, Des Cars has spoken publicly about the need to improve its day-to-day operations. In her memo, she also supported the idea of constructing a second entrance, respective of the pyramid, to “irrigate” the Louvre.
“It’s always frustrating when you don’t give visitors the best possible reception,” she told the Guardian in 2023.