The Louvre Museum in Paris will move the Mona Lisa to a newly created exhibition space, President Emmanuel Macron of France announced on Tuesday as he unveiled sweeping plans to expand and renovate the world’s biggest and most visited museum.
Speaking in front of Leonardo da Vinci’s 16-century masterpiece itself, Mr. Macron also said that the Louvre would create a new entrance in its easternmost facade, near the Seine River, to alleviate overcrowding at the museum, which is swarmed by nearly nine million visitors every year.
The vast renovation, which will also include overhauling aging infrastructure around the museum, would be paid for partly by increasing ticket prices for visitors from non-European Union countries, starting in 2026, Mr. Macron said.
The goal is to welcome far more visitors than today — Mr. Macron set a target of 12 million visitors per year — in much better conditions, the French president said.
The culture ministry will organize an international architectural competition this year, and the new entrance is expected to be finished by 2031 at the latest, he added.
“The Louvre will be redesigned and restored to become the epicenter of art history for our country and beyond,” he said in a carefully choreographed speech, as the Mona Lisa’s famous gaze peered from behind him.
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