Standing in front of the “Mona Lisa” in January, French President Emmanuel Macron unveiled what seemed like a winning plan. The Louvre museum would have a €1.15bn makeover, with a new entrance and a separate space for Leonardo da Vinci’s masterpiece.
By December, that ambition was close to unravelling. A strike by workers over pay and staff shortages has capped a grim year for the world’s largest and most visited museum, following the spectacular theft of French crown jewels in October.
“We can’t spend hundreds of millions on a new entrance when the buildings are falling to pieces,” Elise Muller, a gallery guard and Sud Culture union representative, said as the strike got under way on December 15.
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