PARIS: The Louvre, the world’s most-visited museum and a global symbol of art, beauty and endurance, remained shuttered Monday – not by war, not by terror, but by its own exhausted staff, who say the institution is crumbling from within.It was an almost unthinkable sight: the home to works by Leonardo da Vinci and millennia of civilisation’s greatest treasures – paralysed by the very people tasked with welcoming the world to its galleries. And yet, the moment felt bigger than a labour protest. The Louvre has become a bellwether of global overtourism – a gilded palace overwhelmed by its own popularity. As tourism magnets from Venice to the Acropolis scramble to cap crowds, the world’s most iconic museum is reaching a reckoning of its own.The strike erupted during a routine meeting, as gallery attendants, ticket agents and security personnel refused to take up their posts in protest over unmanageable crowds, chronic understaffing and what one union called “untenable” working conditions. “It’s the Mona Lisa moan out here,” said Kevin Ward, 62, from Milwaukee, one of thousands of visitors corralled into unmoving lines beneath IM Pei’s glass pyramid. The disruption comes just months after President Emmanuel Macron unveiled a decade-long plan to rescue the Louvre from precisely the problems now boiling over – water leaks, dangerous temperature swings, outdated infrastructure, and foot traffic far beyond what the museum can handle. But for workers, that promised future feels distant. “Our teams are under pressure now. It’s not just about the art – it’s about the people protecting it,” Sarah Sefian of CGT-Culture union.At the centre of it all, as always, is the Mona Lisa, a 16th-century portrait that draws crowds more akin to a celebrity meet-and-greet than an art experience. Roughly 20,000 people a day squeeze into the Salle des Etats, the museum’s largest room, just to snap a selfie with Leonardo da Vinci’s enigmatic woman behind protective glass.Macron’s renovation blueprint, dubbed the “Louvre New Renaissance,” promises a remedy. The Mona Lisa will get her own dedicated room, accessible through a timed-entry ticket. A new entrance near the Seine River is also planned by 2031 to relieve pressure from the overwhelmed pyramid hub.Until then, France’s greatest cultural treasure – and the crowds who flock to it – remain caught between the cracks.
