Mona Lisa to be placed in ‘special’ private room as part of Louvre renovation
Mona Lisa to be placed in ‘special’ private room as part of Louvre renovation
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Museum will undergo renovation that will see creation of a grand new entrance and underground gallery rooms. The Mona Lisa, the world’s most famous portrait by Leonardo da Vinci, will be relocated to a private room in the Louvre as the Paris museum undergoes a major renovation.
![[Visitors photographing the Mona Lisa by Italian artist Leonardo Da Vinci on display in a gallery at Louvre on May 19, 2021]](https://static.independent.co.uk/2025/01/29/9/14/monalisa2.jpeg)
The portrait currently hangs in the Louvre’s largest room, which also features 16th century works by Venetian painters. In recent years, overcrowding has become a major problem – trying to view the Mona Lisa is usually a game of dodging past others in a sea of arms holding up mobile phones.
Viewing the masterpiece has become so difficult that the Louvre’s director Laurence des Cars warned that visiting the overcrowded building had become a “physical ordeal”, as thousands of tourists flock to see da Vinci’s 16th century masterpiece each week.
French President Emmanual Macron delivered a speech on Tuesday at the gallery (28 January), announcing that the portrait would be given its own “special place” within the Louvre, separating it from the rest of the museum with its “own access pass” making it “independently accessible compared to the rest of a museum”.
Macron also announced that from 1 January 2026, visitors from countries outside the EU would pay a higher entrance fee. Last year, the Louvre had 8.7 million visitors, with 75 per cent of those coming from outside of France, predominantly from the US, China, Italy, the UK, Germany and Spain.
Macron has said that the museum post-renovation will allow 12 million people to visit each year, since creating more space is the top priority for the project. The overhaul will include a new entrance near the Sein, to be opened in 2031, as well as a new underground room.
