The Louvre shuts down amid understaffing and exhaustion

The Louvre failed to open on Monday, June 16, as the world most visited museum crumbles physically with the building and mentally with its staff. The Renaissance-era hub of art and culture has finally succumbed to the floods of its own visitors, drowning in its own popularity. 

As a target of global overtourism, the Louvre has finally exhausted its resources in all senses. In a leaked memo, Louvre President Laurence des Cars warns that parts of the building are no longer watertight, with tipping temperatures endangering priceless art and guest accommodations that narrowly slips past international standard. Beyond the infrastructure, these problems trouble the workforce.  

As a monthly information session turned into a strike, workers and management had impulsively extended the discussion. By the early afternoon, the museum was still closed. “Gallery attendants, ticket agents and security personnel refused to take up their posts in protest over unmanageable crowds, chronic understaffing and what one union called “untenable” working conditions,” according to CNN. 

Nothing like this has happened ever before, when the museum is pushed to its brink for no other reason but fatigue. Before, the Louvre had only closed its doors to wars and pandemics and never to mere discomfort. Without warning or explanation, tourists are left stranded in lines as impatience replaces anticipation. 

Receiving 8.7 million visitors last year, the Louvre held double the number of visitors that it was designed to. Even with a daily cap of 30,000, the staff are constantly experiencing the same challenges, mostly falling under the irritation of limited spacing and overheating under the pyramid’s greenhouse effect. 

Months before, French President Emmanuel Macron emphasized the urgency to address architectural problems like these, but the understaffing crisis was disregarded in his decade-long plan. Even with a proposal in place, basic operational issues are still being neglected, starting with overcrowding and “foot traffic far beyond what the museum can handle.” 

Funds are laid out for the plan, but the €700–800 million project is still not fully covered. The museum remains, according to CNN, “neither fully funded nor fully functional.” While president Macaron declared a “safer, more modern” museum by decades end, we yet to see progress following his election speech. 

Image credit: Kevin Poh on Flickr