(28 Jan 2025)
RESTRICTION SUMMARY:
ASSOCIATED PRESS
Paris, France – 28 January 2025
++PARTLY OVERLAID BY SHOTS 2- 5++
1. SOUNDBITE (English) Sylvie Corbet, Associated Press:
"Any visitor entering into the Louvre can only be amazed at the splendour of the royal palace turned into a museum. But if you take a closer look, the museum is actually in a poor condition, plagued with overcrowding and outdated facilities. And if you’d like to admire the Mona Lisa behind me, you’ll have to queue all the way to the painting to only spend a few seconds in front of Leonardo da Vinci’s masterpiece, because so many others are waiting. That’s why French President Emmanuel Macron announced a complete overhaul of the museum to repair the building and make its facilities up to international standards. First, the Mona Lisa will get its own dedicated room inside the museum away from other paintings. In addition, a new entrance near the River Seine will be created to avoid overloading the pyramid entrance. The whole building will be modernized in the coming years to make it more comfortable for both the public and the staff. The Louvre is the most visited museum in the world, with about 9 million visitors every year."
2. Various of exterior of Louvre
3. Tilt up of the Mona Lisa by Leonardo Da Vinci
4. French President Emmanuel Macron after announcing the overhaul
5. Various of exterior of Louvre (Pyramid entrance)
STORYLINE:
French President Emmanuel Macron announced Tuesday that the “Mona Lisa” will get its own dedicated room inside the Louvre museum under a major renovation and expansion of the Paris landmark that will take up to a decade.
The renovation project, branded “Louvre New Renaissance,” will include a wide new entrance near the Seine River, to be opened by 2031, Macron said in a speech from the room where Leonardo da Vinci’s masterpiece is displayed.
Macron didn’t disclose an exact amount budgeted for the project to modernize the most visited museum in the world, plagued with overcrowding and outdated facilities. But it’s estimated to reach up to 800 million euros ($834 million).
The Louvre’s last overhaul dates back to the 1980s, when the iconic glass pyramid was unveiled.
Macron said the expansion of the museum will allow the “Mona Lisa” to be moved to a new, dedicated room accessible to visitors through a special ticket.
That will make the visit simpler for those who want to see the painting and ease the experience of other visitors in the rest of the museum, he said.
Leonardo’s masterpiece is now being shown behind protective glass in the museum’s largest room, overcrowded with long, noisy lines of visitors eager to take a selfie with the groundbreaking portrait of the woman with the enigmatic smile.
That makes some other paintings in the room by Venetian painters like Titian and Veronese go unnoticed by many.
The museum’s big renovation in the 1980s was designed to receive 4 million annual visitors.
Last year, the Louvre received 8.7 million visitors, more than 75% being foreigners mostly from the United States, China and neighboring countries Italy, the U.K., Germany and Spain.
Macron said that a new entrance for the Louvre will be created near the Seine by 2031, to be financed by ticket sales, patronage and licensing money from the museum’s Abu Dhabi branch.
A design competition will be staged in the coming months, he said.
In addition, some new underground rooms will be created to expand the museum.
The official couldn’t be named in line with the French presidency’s customary practices.
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