The Louvre must invest heavily to renovate its outdated infrastructure. Chairman Christophe Leribault said this on Wednesday in the French Senate committee.
Source: BELGA
“We can say it plainly: despite its impressive grandeur and the daily efforts of its teams, the Louvre is breathless,” said the chairman, who was appointed in February. “The equipment and infrastructure are reaching the end of their cycle.”
Louvre Nouvelle Renaissance
The Oct. 19 heist of the Crown Jewels also exposed security shortcomings and delays in modernization. “So we are at a crossroads. The urgent problems with the buildings are piling up,” said Leribault. He announced that more than 10,000 Greek vases will be moved for the renovation of a wing of the Louvre. The President also emphasized “the absolute necessity” to carry out the ‘Louvre Nouvelle Renaissance’ renovation project. That project costs approximately 1 billion euros.
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The renovation of the museum, with an additional entrance and a new room for the Mona Lisa, will require an estimated 660 million euros. The Louvre expects 360 million euros in donations in the coming months. According to the chairman, around 300 million euros already comes from the exploitation of the Louvre brand in Abu Dhabi, where the museum opened a branch in 2017.
On security, Leribault said he is “grasping with both hands the urgent measures that are necessary.” A new video surveillance system around the Louvre will be active from January 2027. “We have urgently installed additional cameras at locations where shortages have been identified, but we cannot install a completely new network with hundreds of cameras without strengthening the technical infrastructure,” he said.