The Louvre in Paris closed on Monday, leaving visitors and visitors frustrated and confused at the beginning of the city’s busiest tourist season.
The museum is the most popular museum in the world, reporting about 8.7 million visitors last year. However, this popularity also brought the museum to a “breakthrough point”. Associated Press Reported on Monday.
In a “regular internal meeting,” the museum’s lecturers, ticket sellers and security personnel announced a spontaneous strike to protest working conditions due to overcrowding and understaffing. Although the museum has been closed due to past strikes, few people have not noticed, although it did happen in 2019 and 2013.
Sarah Sefian, a trade union representative for CGT Culture, told AP Most employees plan to strike all day, although some may open the “masterpiece route” for those with tickets to see Da Vinci’s Mona Lisa and Venus de Miloamong other highlights. The Louvre is usually closed on Tuesday, and Sefian said workers can return so that the museum can reopen on Wednesday.
The strike came months after Louvre Director Laurence des Cars published a leaked memo, she described the leak, overcrowding and “a flood of damage in museum spaces.” DES Cars continues to request overhaul of the state-run museum.
A week after the leaked memo, President Emmanuel Macron announced an extensive renovation project called the “New Renaissance of the Louvre” which provided Mona Lisa with a dedicated room and a ticket to time for entry as well as a new entrance. The plan will be completed in 2031. It is estimated that the cost is 70-800 million euros.
But Sefian told AP The plan is no longer helpful now.
“We can’t wait for six years to ask for help,” Sefian said. “Our team is under pressure right now. It’s about not only the art, but the people who protect it.”
