I was more surprised that she wanted to stand in the long line to see Leonardo da Vinci’s Mona Lisa (1503) for the few seconds we would get to take pictures and selfies with the famous painting.
In an effort to remedy this situation, the Mona Lisa may be moved to an underground chamber, according to a report in The Telegraph Tuesday.
Louvre director Laurence des Cars recently suggested the relocation of the popular artwork to a dedicated room constructed in the institution’s basement.
“It’s a large room, and the Mona Lisa is at the back, behind its security glass, so at first glance it looks like a postage stamp,” he said.
The Louvre receives nine million visitors annually, and according to museum officials, the Mona Lisa is the main attraction for 80 per cent of those people.
“In this day and age, you have to have seen something that everyone is talking about at least once in your life, and the Mona Lisa is clearly one of those ‘must sees’,” the curator said.
A new underground chamber for painting would be part of a future “Grand Louvre” renovation, with a new entrance to the museum.
Visitors would bypass the glass pyramid entry and be lead directly to underground rooms: one for the Mona Lisa and the other for temporary exhibitions.
There was no doubt we would visit the Louvre when I brought my mother back to Paris for her first trip in almost fifty years. More surprising to me was her desire to wait in line for the few seconds it would take for us to snap selfies and take pictures with Leonardo da Vinci’s famous painting, the Mona Lisa (c. 1503).
Tourists frequently find this to be an irksome and disappointing experience; according to a recent analysis of 18,000 reviews, the Renaissance portrait is “the world’s most disappointing masterpiece.”. “.
Bulletproof, anti-reflective glass and strictly regulated humidity and temperature levels safeguard Da Vinci’s famous picture of an almost smiling woman.
According to a story published in The Telegraph on Tuesday, the Mona Lisa might be relocated to an underground chamber in an attempt to address this situation.
Laurence des Cars, the director of the Louvre, recently proposed moving the well-known pieces of art to a special room built in the basement of the organization.
“We believe that we are not performing our duties effectively because we don’t greet guests in this room very well,” de Cars said to employees and managers. “Moving the Mona Lisa to a different room might end the dissatisfaction of the public. “.
Chief curator of 16th-century Italian paintings at the Louvre Vincent Delieuvin told the French newspaper Le Figaro, “We’ve been thinking about it for a long time, but this time everyone is in agreement.”.
According to him, the room is spacious and initially appears to be no bigger than a postage stamp due to the Mona Lisa being located at the back behind security glass.
Eighty percent of the nine million visitors to the Louvre each year are drawn to the main attraction—the Mona Lisa, according to museum officials. My mother and I were in the same line as 250,000 other people on particularly busy days.
A change in the visitor queueing system and a repainting of the gallery’s walls from eggshell yellow to midnight blue in 2019 were spurred by the painting’s popularity and attempts to enhance the viewing experience.
Yet according to Delieuvin, a bigger effort is needed because of the influence of social media and mass tourism, particularly now that the artwork’s notoriety has grown following its 1911 theft.
The curator declared, “You have to have seen something that everyone is talking about in this day and age at least once in your life, and the Mona Lisa is clearly one of those’must sees’.”.
A future renovation of the “Grand Louvre” would include a new underground painting chamber and a new museum entrance. In place of the glass pyramid entrance, visitors would go straight to underground chambers, one housing the Mona Lisa and the other housing transient exhibits.
“The museum is in a ripe mood right now,” des Cars said. “As a worldwide icon, the painting is something we cannot change, so we must accept that. “.
Le Figaro estimates that the renovation of the Louvre will cost €500 million. However, the government of President Emmanuel Macron is attempting to cut state spending by €25 billion in its upcoming annual budget as a result of the French economy producing lower-than-expected debt and deficit estimates.
