The Louvre is Falling Apart
It's time to send some art home
Apparently the Louvre is dilapidated. According to a leaked memo from the Louvre’s director, the museum is dealing with crumbling ceilings, leaky roofs, and moldy walls. Last year, heavy rainfall caused a ceiling collapse in one section of the museum. On top of that, the museum itself is always overcrowded, seeing close to 9 million visitors a year, when it was only meant to have only 4 million when it was modernized back in the 1980s.
As a response to fund the renovations, President Emmanuel Macron gave a press conference in front of the Mona Lisa to announce a plan to overhaul the museum with a 700-800 million euro investment project. Part of the plan is having a separate access just for the Mona Lisa as well as a new entrance. To help raise funds, ticket prices will increase for foreign visitors, à la the Met in New York with its two-tier pay system, as well as from donations.
The Louvre is the world’s most famous museum, housing some of its greatest treasures. Still, if it is struggling to keep its own walls from falling down, is it really the best place for, say, Egypt’s Dendera Zodiac? Or Greece’s Nike of Samothrace? Or Nigeria’s looted Benin bronzes?
The Louvre is still holding onto thousands of artifacts from other countries, many of which were taken during colonization or wartime circumstances. Yet if the Louvre is having trouble keeping itself together, maybe it’s time to rethink whether it’s the best caretaker for some of the world’s most contested artifacts.
Museums have long argued that they have the best sites to house the world’s precious belongings. But what happens when your house is falling apart?