Staff at the Musée du Louvre yesterday staged another walk out, citing concerns around working conditions and infrastructure, and demanding that controversial plans for a new entrance be scrapped. The action led the Paris museum to close on Monday morning before partially reopening at noon.
Some of the museum's most well-known works, including the Mona Lisa, the Venus de Milo and the Winged Victory of Samothrace were then accessible, while all other galleries remained closed. Visitors entered the building via a separate entrance on the side of the Seine river, while staff held a meeting near the main entrance under the glass pyramid.
“Three hundred and fifty staff members, including curators, unanimously voted for the strike,” the three unions behind the action announced. A representative of the French Democratic Confederation of Labour (CFDT) added: “No one has ever seen that level of tension in a national museum.”
Striking workers and union representatives will meet again tomorrow morning (the museum is closed on Tuesdays) and will continue negotiations with France's Ministry of Culture. According to the CFDT spokesperson, while there may be some progress made on job maintenance and wages, the main problem remains “the complete breach of trust between the staff and the director, Laurence des Cars”.
In a statement, unions demanded for the first time that des Cars drop her “unrealistic” €666m project to build a new entrance to the museum, alongside a subterranean complex around the Mona Lisa and an exhibition hall. Instead, they called for the director to “focus on the technical works” badly needed to preserve the collections.
However, in her 2026 budget, Des Cars has set aside €100m for preliminary studies for her grand plan, and only €15m for technical maintenance, including €1.8m for the safety of the museum's works.
This latest strike follows a three-day walk out at the Louvre during the week before Christmas and the theft of the crown jewels in October. The objects have not been recovered despite the arrest of four men accused of carrying out the robbery.
Several official reports issued in the wake of the heist have since pointed out the “accelerated degradation” of the museum's infrastructure due to “considerable delays” in maintenance work and priorities redirected to “visible and attractive operations”.
Later this week a new parliamentary investigation into the safety of museums will begin in the French parliament. It is expected to increase existing pressure on Des Cars to depart from her role as director.