Emmanuel Macron speaks from the Louvre to announce a major renovation project of the museum, a few days after an alert on the obsolescence of the establishment was launched publicly.
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- Emmanuel Macron Put a speech from the Louvre museum this Tuesday, February 28. He speaks before the Mona Lisa table.
- “Having to speak to you under the unspeakable gaze of the Mona Lisa is a privilege but pushes both humility,” said Emmanuel Macron, who announces a realistic and funded “renovation site.
- The museum management sounded the alarm on the dilapidation of the Louvre last week. A project “from 10 to 15 years old, without closure of the museum” was mentioned before the president’s speech.
- The amount of the work necessary for the renovation of the Louvre is estimated at “several hundred million euros” and the sum of 500 million was mentioned, without being confirmed by the management of the museum. The financing of this work raises questions, especially since Emmanuel Macron has no hands on the budget which should allow, according to the government, to limit public spending. Tracks such as patronage and the increase in the price of tickets are mentioned.
- Regarding the work, Emmanuel Macron announced the creation of a new entry to the Louvre, in addition to that present under the glass pyramid, to unclog the Napoleon hall. This entry, designed to accommodate 4 million visitors per year, is “structurally exceeded” by the nearly 9 million annual visitors. There is also the question of the moving of the Mona Lisa in another room which would be dedicated to it.
Macron’s speech at the Louvre on video
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16:41 – A “new big entry” announced
The repair of the museum first concerns the creation of a new entry for the Louvre museum “at the level of the Colonnade de Perrault”, announces the head of state. This should make it possible to “rebalance how to visit the Louvre and reopen it to Parisians and Parisians,” he explains. In addition, “all of the work of this new access will be funded by the museum’s own resources without weighing on the taxpayer,” said the Head of State.
16:38 – A Louvre “restored and enlarged”
“For several months, on the basis of your proposals, we have worked and the conclusion has been essential: yes, that of the Louvre project, new Renaissance. A restored, renovated, enlarged, which becomes epicenter of the history of the Art for our country and beyond, “continues Emmanuel Macron.
16:36 – A “realistic and funded” project
Emmanuel Macron spoke, shortly after 4.30 p.m. under the gaze of the Mona Lisa. He has already promised a “realistic and funded” project to deal with the dilapidation of the Louvre.
16:33 – Macron helpless to impose public spending favorable to the Louvre?
Emmanuel Macron should make announcements “concerning the Louvre and his future” according to his entourage, but if he initiates a major project, he cannot unlock public spending to finance the work. Weakened since the dissolution, devoid of majority and having left the Prime Minister’s care to have a budget voted, he no longer has the hand. However, the government seeks to limit expenses, it has also planed the increase in “300 million” credits granted to heritage and provided for in the previous budget rejected by Parliament. The President of the Republic should find it difficult to impose the Louvre as a priority to add to the budget. The government spokesperson also estimated on Monday on TF1 that it “is obviously no question, when we build a budget […] controlling public spending, adding a line of 500 million like that “.
16:22 – Emmanuel Macron will speak to the Mona Lisa
Emmanuel Macron will express himself in front of one of the most famous paintings in Louvre museum : The Mona Lisa. The speech was expected around 4 p.m., but the head of state does not yet seem to have arrived there.
“New Renaissance”: Emmanuel Macron expected in less than an hour ahead of the Mona Lisa for announcements in response to the alert of the Louvre, faced in particular with a magnitude.
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– Léopold Audebert (@leopoldaudebert) January 28, 2025
16:11 – The Louvre work evaluated at “several hundred million euros”
If work is necessary according to the management of the Louvre, it is also expensive and valued at “several hundred million euros”. The amount of half a billion euros has even been advanced, without being confirmed by the museum. The creation of a new entry in addition to that present under the pyramid of the Louvre, but thought of for a capacity of 4 million visitors per year, could be a large pole of expenditure, as well as the displacement of the Mona Lisa in a new room. If the construction of an entry should be confirmed, the move of Mona Lisa is still only a hypothesis. According to Mariannethese two adjustments alone represent a total budget of 400 million euros.
15:57 – endorsed, obsolescence, temperature variations. The degradations of the Louvre
“Multiplication of damage in sometimes very degraded spaces”, “obsolescence” of “technical equipment”, “disturbing variations in temperatures endangering the state of conservation of works” … Here are the examples of degradations suffered by the museum du Louvre and mentioned by the director in a note addressed to the Ministry of Culture. But the wing that houses the Mona Lisa table is not directly affected by these damage confirmed an internal source at the museum to AFP. Unlike the Sully wing located east of the museum which houses several objects of art and French works. This wing could be largely part of the renovations.
15:46 – The Mona Lisa moved or not, the subject finally decided
Other details would be under study in the event of renovation of the Louvre, in particular a possible displacement of the Star Table of the Museum: La Joconde de Léonard da Vinci. 20,000 visitors are jostling each day in front of this work, a craze which “obeys the conditions of visit in the surrounding spaces”. The portrait of Mona Lisa could therefore be moved to a new room where it would be the only table to be exhibited reports Marianne. It is still only a hypothesis, but Emmanuel Macron could finally decide on this point.
15:31 – A new entry planned for the renovation program of the Louvre?
Emmanuel Macron has to speak this Tuesday afternoon during a visit to the Louvre to announce, among other things, the launch of renovation work of the famous museum. This project should, according to information from France Inter, understand the creation of a new entry to the museum in addition (or in place?) In the current entrance which is under the emblematic glass pyramid of the establishment. This access could be done to the east of the palace, on the side of the square courtyard at the Colonnade de Perrault. The project is carried out by the director of the museum, Laurence des Cars, and must avoid the “saturation” and “congestion” of the museum.
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“There will be announcements” promised the entourage of Emmanuel Macron. Two weeks after sending a note from the director of the Louvre alerting the Ministry of Culture to the decrepitude of the establishment, and a few months after a discreet presidential visit carried out in the fall, the Head of State A Scheduled to speak this Tuesday, February 28, concerning the future of the museum and major renovation work. “The Louvre is a symbol of France, it is a French pride. It would be a fault to remain deaf and blind in the face of the risks that weigh today on the museum,” justified the presidency.
If Emmanuel Macron’s speech from the most visited museum in the world – more than 8 million per year on average – seems to be organized at the last minute, the expected announcements would be the result of “nourished dialogue” with the Minister of culture, Rachida Dati. The fact remains that no detail has leaked from these exchanges: no calendar or amount. Alone France Inter advances to speak of a major project of “10 to 15 years old, without closure of the museum”, and encrypted to “several hundred million euros”
“The challenge is to know how to adapt the Louvre to the expectations it arouses by allowing it to welcome visitors in more comfortable conditions,” summarizes the Elysée. But there is a lot to do since the Louvre pyramid is “structurally exceeded” compared to the crowd of annual visitors: the plan of the “Grand Louvre” inaugurated in 1993 had been designed for 4 million visitors per year, no From 9 million to have come in 2024. The museum management would have estimated at 500 million euros the budget necessary for maintenance, catering and upgrading work of the different wings and the reception hall of the museum. An amount that has not been confirmed. According to the confidences of a source close to the file to AFP: “100 million euros in investments would be necessary, in particular for priority catering work, of which only 26 million are provided in 2024. The rest before S ‘Spread until 2032, for lack of budget “.
Public expenses to be added to the budget?
A pharaonic project at the colossal price whose funding will raise questions, especially in the absence of the 2025 budget and while the negotiations to have it voted are sweeteners. No public expenditure can be incurred without the approval of the Prime Minister and his Minister of the Economy, who call for reducing the wing. “There is obviously no question, when we build a budget […] control of public spending, to add a line of 500 million like that, “warned government spokesperson Sophie Prima, on TF1January 27.
The Elysée has confirmed that Emmanuel Macron’s speech “will be anchored in institutional reality”. The Head of State should therefore have a few sorrows in pushing the government to get their hands in the pocket. The privileged track would remain the call for patronage according to a government source. The idea would be to “mobilize resources elsewhere” with private donors and large companies as for Notre-Dame de Paris when 846 million euros in donations had been harvested. The option to review the price of the Louvre museum tickets would also be on the table. The presidency does not seem to close at the idea of Rachida Dati to offer a more expensive ticket to foreign tourists outside the European Union, even to a general increase in the price which remains “clearly in the bottom of the range” compared to “large museums equivalents “. Finally, other options are mentioned by a government source cited by France Inter : a “multi -year programming” and “innovative financing methods”.
Macron looking for popularity
Weakened and withdrawn since the dissolution and the political crisis that it has caused, the President of the Republic could try to regain points of popularity by landing, once, like the guarantor and the Savior of the French heritage. A posture he had adopted for the reconstruction of Notre-Dame de Paris cathedral, from his fire to his reopening. Does he hope to restore his image with a new heritage project like the Louvre? It is the analysis that can be made of the investment of the Head of State which has reserved the field of foreign and European affairs, but not that of cultural sites, at least not yet. “The cultural exception is in [les] prerogatives “of the president, we, however, underline in his entourage. An opinion that a minister who criticizes Emmanuel Macron does not share with” buying popularity on the cheap “, with BFMTV.