The Louvre Museum in Paris closes unexpectedly as staff protest conditions

the Louvre MuseumThe most visited museum in the world and a global symbol of art, beauty and endurance were closed on Monday-not through war, not through terrorism, but by its exhausting employees, who say that the institution is collapsing from the inside.

It was an almost unimaginable scene: the home of Leonardo da Vinci works and thousands of years of the greatest treasures of civilization – paralyzed by the people charged with welcoming the world in his opponent.

The automatic strike broke out during a routine internal meeting, as the attendees, ticket agents and security personnel rejected their positions in protesting the unproductive crowds, chronic employees and what one of the union launched working conditions “that cannot be defended.”

It is rare for the Louvre Museum to close its doors to the public. This happened during the war, during the epidemic, and in a handful of strikes – including automatic wandering over overcrowding in 2019 and safety fears in 2013. But I rarely felt like this: tourists who slow down in the arena, and memories on hand, with no clear explanation for the reason that the museum, without warning, did not stop simply.

“It is the Mona Lisa Ayen here,” said Kevin Ward, 62, from Milwoki, one of the thousands of confused visitors in unequal lines under the glass pyramid. “Thousands of people are waiting, no connection, no explanation. I think even need a holiday.”

The moment felt more than the work protest. The Louvre Museum has become a bell Global turmoil A palace of a sect that is steeped in its popularity. Since the tourist magnet from the gun to the Acropolis is scrambled to the crowds, the most famous museum in the world reaches its own account.

The disorder comes a few months after President Emmanuel Macron revealed Decadelong plan To save the Louvre Museum from the problems that are now boiling – water leakage, dangerous temperature fluctuations, old infrastructure, and traffic on foot beyond what the museum can deal with. But for workers on Earth, this future is a promise to feel far away.

“We cannot wait for six years for help,” said Sarah Seifian of the CGT Culture Union. “Our teams are under pressure now. It is not only about art – it is about the people who protect it.”

She said that what started as a scheduled monthly information session “turned into a collective expression of discontent.” The conversations between workers and administration started at 10:30 am and continued in the afternoon. As of the afternoon, the museum remained closed.

The Louvre Museum welcomed 8.7 million visitors last year – more than twice that of its infrastructure to accommodate it. Even with the daily maximum of 30,000, the employees say the experiment has become a daily test of endurance, with a very few comfort, limited bathrooms and summer heat that the greenhouse effect in the pyramid is enlarged.

In the midst of everything, as is always the case, it is the image of Mona Lisa-a picture in the sixteenth century that attracts modern crowds more than he looks like a famous meeting and scares more than one artistic experience. Nearly 20,000 people per day click on Salle Des états, the largest room in the museum, just to take a personal photo with a mysterious Leonardo Da Vinci woman behind the protective glass. The scene is often noisy, hiker, and so intense that many players barely get the masterpieces surrounding them – Titan’s works and virus that are greatly ignored.

“You don’t see a painting,” said Ji Hyun Park, 28, who flew from Seoul to Paris. “You see phones. You see the elbows. You feel heat. Then, you were pushed out.”

The Macron Renewal scheme, called “Lotvre New Renaissance”, is a treatment. Mona Lisa will finally get her custom room, and can be accessed through the specified entry ticket. A new entrance was also planned near the Sein River by 2031 to reduce pressure from the axis of the masculine pyramid.

In a note leaked, Louvre Lawrence Des warned cars that parts of the building “are no longer closed”, and that temperature fluctuations are exposed to invaluable art, and even the basic needs of visitors – food, toilets, and banners – much lower than international standards. The experiment was simply described as a “physical ordeal”.

“We have problems with the building,” DS Cars admitted CBS News earlier this year. She said that the issues are partially due to age, as the palace that includes the museum was initially built in the early thirteenth century.

“It is nine centuries of history, in the heart of Paris and in the heart of the history of France.”

She also said that one of the goals of renewal is to improve visitors’ flow, so that people can find the groups they want to see more easily and “discover the wonders of the Louvre Museum.”

It is expected that the full renewal plan – at an expected cost ranging between 700 million to 800 million euros (between 810 million dollars to 930 million dollars) – through ticket revenues, private donations, state funds and licensing fees from the Louvre branch in Abu Dhabi. Ticket prices for tourists from the European Union are expected to rise later this year.