“Every day, museum spaces are closed well beyond what was foreseen in the guaranteed opening plan, due to lack of staff, as well as technical failures and the state of degradation of the building”the unions write in a letter addressed to the French Minister of Culture, Rachida Dati, to which AFP had access.
On October 19, the Louvre was the victim of “a spectacular robbery”, during the day, when a four-man commando entered the building via a mobile elevator placed on the Seine, stealing eight 19th century jewels, valued at 88 million euros, including the tiara of Empress Eugenie, wife of Napoleon III, encrusted with around 2,000 diamonds.
The four members of the command that committed the robbery were arrested, but the jewelry and the perpetrators of the crime remain missing.
At the end of November, the museum announced that, to finance its modernization, it would increase the ticket price by 45% for visitors from non-European countries from 2026.
However, “the public now has limited access to the works and finds their circulation difficult”. “Visiting the Louvre has become a real obstacle course”consider the unions.
“The various internal alerts went unanswered and the statements released to the national representation and the media by the Louvre’s management do not allow us to hope for awareness to match the crisis we are going through”emphasize the trade union organizations.
Therefore, they request negotiation directly with the Ministry of Culture, taking into account “the unprecedented degradation of the internal social climate and the need to obtain answers from the competent authorities”.
In 2024, the Louvre received 8.7 million visitors, of which 69% were foreigners.