Following the announcement by French President Emmanuel Macron at the end of January regarding a major plan called “New Renaissance of the Louvre,” aimed at adapting the museum to massive attendance, a competition was launched in June to recruit firms responsible for the renovation and adaptation of the spaces.
The selected applications result from a partnership between architectural firms and agencies responsible for scenography, museography, landscaping, and urban planning.
Among the selected, from over a hundred applications, are several French firms and agencies, as well as British, German, American, and Japanese ones.
The Louvre, the most visited museum in the world with around nine million visitors in 2024, of which 80% are foreigners, suffers from obsolescence issues, warned its director-president Laurence des Cars in January.
The extensive plan announced by Emmanuel Macron includes notably the creation of a new grand entrance, as well as a space dedicated to Leonardo da Vinci’s famous Mona Lisa.
New exhibition rooms are also expected to be created under the museum’s square courtyard.
The work is also expected to address the problems of deterioration of degraded spaces and the needs in terms of safety and environmental standards, while improving the comfort and quality of the protection of the pieces in the museum.
The project’s cost is estimated between 700 to 800 million euros over about ten years, of which only a “very minor part” will be financed by the State.
A more expensive entry ticket for non-EU foreigners is expected to take effect on January 1, 2026, and starting from 2031, the expected date for the opening of the new rooms, visitors wishing to see the Mona Lisa will have to pay an additional supplement beyond the museum’s access ticket.
