Leaked Memo Reveals “Poor Condition” of Louvre Museum

A leaked memo revealed the alarming impacts of over-tourism, outdated facilities, and a swath of other issues at the famed Louvre Museum in Paris. Some cultural authorities responded to the news by reissuing calls for the Mona Lisa to be returned to Italy. Meanwhile, French President Emmanuel Macron promised plans to restore the beleaguered building—including a new exhibition space for the popular Leonardo portrait.

Earlier this month, the French newspaper Le Parisien published a private letter from the director of the Louvre Museum, Laurence des Cars, to the French Culture Minister, Rachida Dati. According to the leaked memo, the Louvre’s facilities are reaching a “worrying level of obsolescence.” Some areas of the museum “are no longer watertight, while others experience significant temperature variations, endangering the preservation of artworks.”

Des Cars asked France’s Ministry of Culture for funding to address “the severe reality of the state of our overworked buildings.” She emphasized that over-tourism is especially contributing to the “physical strain” on the Louvre and that “visitors have no space to take a break. The food and toilet facilities are insufficient, well below international standards. The signage needs to be completely redesigned.”

Louvre Memo Prompts Calls to Return Mona Lisa to Italy

News of the Louvre’s “poor condition” catalyzed calls to return the museum’s crown jewel, Leonardo da Vinci’s Mona Lisa, to its home country of Italy. In a social media post, Francesca Caruso, the assessor for culture for Italy’s Lombardy region, proposed a temporary return of the Mona Lisa, writing, “We are ready to welcome her.” Caruso also said in an interview with the Sunday Times of London that “Milan would be the ideal location to display” La Giocanda, as the painting is known in Italy. Although Leonardo was not from Milan, he lived and worked there for nearly two decades of his career.

Leonardo began painting the Mona Lisa in Florence at the start of the 16th century. It was most likely a commission by Francesco del Giocondo to paint his wife, a noblewoman named Lisa Gherardini. The iconic Renaissance portrait was left technically unfinished and remained in the artist’s studio until he died in 1519. Mona Lisa joined the royal collection of King Francis I of France shortly thereafter. Today, it belongs to the French Republic and has regularly been on display at the Louvre Museum since 1797.

The Louvre Museum, located in a 12th-century fortress along Paris’s River Seine, is the most popular museum in the world. It welcomed some 8.7 million visitors just last year—twice the number it was designed to accommodate. Many of these visitors are primarily interested in getting a glimpse at the Mona Lisa, as well as other famed masterworks like the Venus de Milo and Liberty Leading the People. Meeting the growing demands of tourism—as well as fixing all the problems listed in the leaked Louvre memo—would reportedly cost nearly $1 billion dollars.

On Tuesday, French President Emmanual Macron visited the Louvre, voicing concern about how the museum’s deteriorating conditions will impact both its visitors and its vast collections. Macron announced that the Louvre would be “redesigned, restored, and enlarged,” including the addition of a “new grand entrance” to ease congestion at the current entry point in the glass pyramid. Standing in front of the Mona Lisa, Macron also revealed plans to design a “special space” for the popular portrait that would be “independently accessible” with “its own access pass.”