The Louvre will raise ticket prices for non-European Union (EU) visitors by 45% from 14 January 2026, the Paris museum’s board decided yesterday.
The move will increase the cost of tickets for visitors from countries including the UK, US and China from €22 to €32, which the museum hopes will boost its revenue by around €17.5m annually.
Staff unions have denounced the project as an “unprecedented challenge to the universal mission of the museum since its birth in 1793”.
The Louvre previously increased its ticket prices by 30% in 2024, ahead of the Olympic Games, but has since faced a series of hefty budget cuts, including the loss of 7% of its public subsidies. These subsidies, which in 2015 amounted to half of the Louvre's budget in 2015, now represent only a quarter of it.
In 2026 the French culture ministry is set to lose another €216m from its budget, with funds for museums and cultural heritage hit particularly hard by a loss of €58m.
The Louvre is also in search of funds to finance a €1.1bn upgrade, €450m of which would be earmarked for urgently needed maintenance and the restoration of basic infrastructure.
The remaining €666m would finance the grandiose project for a new entrance to the museum and a subterranean complex around the Mona Lisa. The Louvre has yet to find €300m in sponsorship for this controversial part of the works, which the state auditing body has criticised as “financially unviable”.
Encouraged by the French culture minister Rachida Dati, four other French national museums and monuments, including the Château de Versailles, have also announced new pricing structures for non-EU visitors. The Château de Chambord will raise its tickets from €19 to €29, while Versailles will charge €35 during the high season to €25 in the low season.
The Louvre will not apply the new tariff to citizens from Norway, Iceland and Liechtenstein, which are part of the trade agreement with the EU known as the European Economic Area.