Leonardo da Vinci’s masterpiece, the Mona Lisa, is to be given its own “special space” within the Louvre, Emmanuel Macron has said, as he unveiled a plan to renovate the world’s most visited museum.
Standing in front of the painting on Tuesday, the French president said the artwork would be moved to a location “independently accessible compared to the rest of the museum”, with “its own access pass”.
He also said the Louvre would be given a “new grand entrance”, to be opened by 2031, in an attempt to ease congestion at the pyramid entrance. The move, Macron said, would be financed entirely using the museum’s “own resources”.
Macron did not disclose the cost of the renovation, but it is likely to run into hundreds of millions of euros. In recent years the museum has been plagued with overcrowding and outdated facilities.
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Agence France-Presse and Associated Press contributed to this report.
