What we know about the renovation of the Louvre Museum in Paris

The French President Emmanuel Macron announced a major renovation of the Louvre Museum in Paris, which will include a second entrance and a dedicated exhibition space for the Mona Lisa. Named New Renaissance, the French government will launch an international architecture competition in the coming months and select the winners by the end of the year to transform the museum buildings by 2031 at the latest. This renovation will be the largest intervention in the building since architect I. M. Pei reorganized the space and added the iconic glass and steel pyramid to the museum courtyard in 1989. According to a letter from Louvre director, Laurence des Cars, published in the newspaper Le Parisien, the entrance under the pyramid can no longer adequately handle the number of visitors. The museum was designed to receive 4 million people per year, but last year, over 8 million visited the site. With the planned renovations, the museum's capacity is expected to increase to around 13 million annual visitors.

New Wing for the Mona Lisa

As part of the changes announced by Macron, a "new grand entrance" will be created on the east facade of the museum – on the side opposite the pyramid, which currently serves as the main entrance. This new entrance will connect directly to a series of subterranean galleries built under the Cour Carré, the central courtyard of the museum. To enhance the visitor experience and reduce overcrowding, a dedicated exhibition space exclusively for the Mona Lisa will be created, described as a "special space." According to the French newspaper Le Monde, this new area will be "independently accessible from the rest of the museum." Although few details have been released, the renovation is expected to cost around €800 million and be completed by 2031. Built largely in the French Renaissance style during the 16th and 17th centuries, the Louvre Palace housed the royal collection after Louis XIV transferred the monarchy's official residence to Versailles. By the late 18th century, the site was transformed into a public museum. [news-article]W3siaWQiOjE4NjY1MiwidGl0bGUiOiJDb2xlJiN4RTc7JiN4RTM7byBCYXJyb2wmI3hFMjtuZGlhLCBkZSBHYWJyaWVsIEZlcm5hbmRlcywgJiN4RTk7IGRlc3RhcXVlIG5hIDMwJiN4QUE7IGVkaSYjeEU3OyYjeEUzO28gQUJVUCJ9LHsiaWQiOjE4NjMyOSwidGl0bGUiOiJBZ2VuZGEgQ3VsdHVyYWwgU1A6IDEzIHByb2dyYW1hcyBwYXJhIGZhemVyIGVtIGZldmVyZWlybyJ9LHsiaWQiOjE4NjgwMCwidGl0bGUiOiJUcmFuc2Zvcm1lIGEgZmFjaGFkYSBkYSBzdWEgY2FzYSBjb20gZGljYXMgc2ltcGxlcyJ9XQ==[/news-article][whatsapp integration]