Overview

• Gallery attendants, ticket agents and security staff initiated a spontaneous strike during a routine meeting on Monday, closing the Louvre over unmanageable crowds, chronic understaffing and poor working conditions.
• Though the museum reopened briefly Monday afternoon, it remained closed Tuesday with management and union talks ongoing and plans for a limited 'masterpiece route' on Wednesday.
• Last year’s 8.7 million visitors overwhelmed infrastructure designed for half that number, with staff reporting insufficient rest areas, bathrooms and unbearable heat under the pyramid’s greenhouse effect.
• President Macron’s decade-long, €700–800 million Louvre New Renaissance plan includes a Seine-side entrance and dedicated Mona Lisa room but does not address immediate staffing and facility shortfalls.
• Louvre President Laurence des Cars warned in a leaked memo about water leaks, dangerous temperature swings and failing visitor amenities and called for urgent measures to protect art and staff well-being.