Khaberni - The Louvre, the world's most visited museum, closed its doors today (Monday), following the start of an open-ended strike by workers demanding urgent renovations and an increase in the number of employees, also protesting against a 45% hike in ticket prices for visitors from outside the European Economic Area, including British and American tourists.
Open-ended strike for Louvre employees
This strike, called by the three main unions (CGT, Sud, CFDT), comes at a critical time of the year with the approach of the Christmas holidays, and might lead to a partial or complete closure for days if it continues. The museum has about 2100 employees and welcomed 8.7 million visitors last year.
Theft of jewels from the Louvre Museum
The Louvre is still recovering from the theft of French crown jewels on October 19th, in which a gang of four people stormed the museum in broad daylight, stealing jewels valued at around 88 million euros in just seven minutes before escaping on motorbikes, while several suspects have been arrested, the jewels have not yet been found.
Water leak damages Egyptian artifacts at the Louvre
In November, a water leak damaged 300 to 400 books and documents in the Egyptian antiquities section, then a hall containing nine rooms of ancient Greek pottery was closed due to concerns about the safety of the roof.
The unions described the situation as "the last bastion before collapse," referring to years of government funding shortages and job cuts (200 jobs since 2015, especially in security).
Rising price of Louvre visit tickets
They also criticized the hike in ticket prices to 32 euros starting January for visitors from countries like the United States, Britain, and China, considering it "unacceptable discrimination" that makes visitors pay for a deteriorating museum.
Official reports confirmed the slow pace of security updates, and that the museum focused on attractive operations instead of protection; President Emmanuel Macron ordered a thorough reorganization, and Philippe Joust (who oversaw the reconstruction of Notre Dame) will conduct a study in January.
Investigations are still ongoing amid concerns about the impact of the strike on tourism during the holiday season.
