In a leaked memo, the director of the Louvre in France has labelled the museum as a ‘physical ordeal’ to visit, with leaking roofs and ‘insufficient’ food options
The director of the Louvre has revealed that is a “physical ordeal” to visit the museum, due to leaks and substandard catering.
In a leaked memo written by Laurence des Cars for the French culture minister, Rachida Dati, the alarming state of the Louvre museum in Paris was detailed. Capable of welcoming around four million visitors each year, in 2024 the Louvre experienced more than double that number, with 8.7 million people coming through its doors. Around 70 per cent of those came from outside of France.
In her memo, which was published by Le Parisien newspaper, Des Cars bluntly shared her view of the museum. “Visiting the Louvre is a physical ordeal; accessing the artworks takes time and is not always easy,” she wrote. “Visitors have no space to take a break. The food options and restroom facilities are insufficient in volume, falling below international standards. The signage needs to be completely redesigned.”
Des Cars added that crowds had added to the damage evident in parts of the museum, some of which had fallen into “very poor condition” to the extent that some areas “are no longer watertight, while others experience significant temperature variations, endangering the preservation of artworks”.
The memo also acknowledge the French Government’s current budget limits, but expressed that the Louvre was in desperate need of an expensive overhaul.
Des Cars went on to claim that one of the museum’s newest editions — a glass pyramid designed by the Chinese-American architect Ieoh Ming Pei – had “major shortcomings”. The pyramid, which was used by the French president, Emmanuel Macron, for a state dinner as the Paris Olympics kicked off in July, was also noted as creating a “greenhouse effect” on hot days, “making this space very inhospitable for the public who pass through and the agents who work there”.
She also added that the acoustics of the pyramid made it noisy.
The memo went on to stress that there needs to be a reassessment of how the Louvre’s most popular attraction, Leonardo da Vinci’s Mona Lisa, is presented as crowds gather to get a glimpse of the painting.
Des Cars became head of the institution back in 2021 and since she has been vocal about imposing a daily cap on visitors, extending the opening hours and the museum reaching “saturation point”. She has been campaigning for more funds, however this has been a battle due to France’s minority Government.
The Louvre has faced large crowds of visitors in the past. In 2019, after more than 10 million people visited the previous year, staff at the museum conducted a brief strike to highlight that there were no longer enough staff members to handle the growing visitor numbers. Since the memo was leaked, the presidential palace has announced that Emmanuel Macron will visit the site on Tuesday.
The Louvre has been contacted for comment.
