Macron announces Louvre renovation with new space for Mona Lisa

French President Emmanuel Macron has announced major overhaul plans for the Louvre gallery.

The plan, dubbed the ‘New Renaissance’, aims to renovate and expand the museum. The project comes after the leak of a letter from Louvre Director Laurence des Cars to Macron's government. The letter outlines her concerns that the museum is "structurally unable to cope."

Primarily she argues that the museum lacks sufficient infrastructure to deal with the volume of visitors. The Louvre is one of the most popular museums in the world, seeing nearly nine million visitors a year - thirty thousand a day. Three quarters of daily visitors to the museum go to see Leonardo Da Vinci’s Mona Lisa.

Des Cars suggested that the Mona Lisa, in order to allow for greater appreciation by guests, must be housed in its own space. Currently, visitors get only 50 seconds on average to closely observe the painting.

“The public… has no way of comprehending the artist’s work, which raises questions over our whole mission of public service,” said des Cars.

Des Cars also draws attention to the Louvre’s last renovation, which took place in 1989, saying the museum could become unfit for the preservation of artworks. She says the glass of the pyramid creates wide temperature fluctuations that have the potential to damage many of the pieces on display.

Macron’s project will renovate the Louvre Palace’s eastern facade, creating a new entryway to replace the glass pyramid entrance. This new entry will lead into underground exhibition spaces, connecting with the existing parts of the museum beneath the Cour Carrée.

He agreed that the Mona Lisa should be given a dedicated exhibition space, suggesting a separate charge to view the painting may be introduced.

The New Renaissance project is intended to be completed by 2031. There has been no confirmation of budget, though estimates suggest several hundred million euro.