The Louvre Museum was forced to shut its doors on Monday, leaving thousands of visitors frustrated after staff commenced an industrial action to protest deteriorating working conditions at the Paris landmark.
The disruption comes barely two months after the museum was rocked by a brazen daytime robbery that exposed serious security lapses.
Employees are demanding increased staffing levels and concrete steps to address severe overcrowding, compounding the challenges facing the world’s most visited museum as France heads into the busy Christmas holiday season. The strike adds further strain to an institution still reeling from the theft of crown jewels valued at $102 million during an audacious heist carried out in broad daylight.
“We are closed,” a security agent told visitors on Monday morning, according to an AFP journalist. “Come back in a few hours.”
Union representatives from the CGT and CFDT confirmed that about 400 staff members voted unanimously at a general assembly to continue the strike action. For many visitors, the closure came as a bitter disappointment.
“I’m very disappointed, because the Louvre was the main reason for our visit in Paris, because we wanted to see the ‘Mona Lisa,’” said 37-year-old Minsoo Kim, who travelled from Seoul with his wife to celebrate their honeymoon.
Another tourist, 28-year-old Natalia Brown from London, shared similar feelings but expressed understanding. “At the same time, I understand why they’re doing it, it’s just unfortunate timing for us.”
Ahead of the walkout, Christian Galani of the hard-left CGT union said the action was expected to draw unusually broad participation across the museum’s workforce of about 2,200 employees. “We’re going to have a lot more strikers than usual,” Galani said. “Normally, it’s front-of-house and security staff. This time, there are scientists, documentarians, collections managers, even curators and colleagues in the workshops telling us they plan to go on strike.”
The grievances vary across departments but collectively point to deep-rooted dissatisfaction within the institution, which is now under intense public scrutiny following the October 19 robbery. Reception and security workers complain of chronic understaffing while being tasked with managing overwhelming visitor numbers, as the museum hosting Leonardo da Vinci’s “Mona Lisa” receives millions more visitors annually than it was designed to handle.
The pressure has been building for months. A spontaneous protest by staff on June 16 earlier this year had already forced the Louvre to close temporarily. The museum has increasingly become emblematic of what unions describe as “over-tourism”, with as many as 30,000 people passing through daily amid what staff call an exhausting “obstacle course” of long queues, safety risks, and inadequate sanitation and catering facilities.
Beyond visitor management, concerns have grown over the physical state of the historic building itself. Documentarians and curators have raised alarms over worsening disrepair, highlighted by a recent water leak and the closure of a gallery due to structural concerns. “The building is not in a good state,” chief Louvre architect Francois Chatillon acknowledged during a parliamentary hearing last month.
Louvre director Laurence des Cars, who is facing sustained pressure to step down, had warned the government in January about mounting problems including leaks, overheating, and declining visitor conditions in a widely circulated internal memo. In response, President Emmanuel Macron announced an extensive renovation project estimated to cost between 700 million and 800 million euros, potentially reaching $940 million.
Security remains a particularly sensitive issue following the robbery, with lingering questions about whether it could have been prevented. Investigations revealed that two intruders accessed the gallery housing the crown jewels using a portable extendable ladder, cutting through a glass door with angle grinders in front of stunned visitors before escaping with eight invaluable items.
Subsequent findings showed that only one external security camera was operational at the time, control room staff lacked sufficient screens to monitor live footage effectively, and police were initially sent to the wrong location.
These failures echoed warnings contained in several security assessments conducted over the past decade, including a 2019 audit by specialists from jewellery firm Van Cleef & Arpels, which had identified the riverside balcony used in the theft as a major vulnerability easily exploitable with an extendable ladder.
What you should know
The Louvre’s closure reflects mounting pressure on the iconic museum from staff who say overcrowding, understaffing, aging infrastructure, and weak security have become impossible to ignore.
The strike follows a major robbery that exposed long-known vulnerabilities and intensified scrutiny of management. While the French government has announced a costly renovation plan, workers argue that immediate action is needed to protect staff, visitors, and priceless collections.
The dispute highlights broader debates around over-tourism, public funding, and the sustainability of managing global cultural landmarks.
