Thousands of tourists were left stranded in unmoving lines outside the Louvre museum in Paris on Monday after it failed to open on time due to a labor strike.
Gallery workers, including attendants, ticket agents, and security personnel, refused to take their work stations during a routine internal meeting at the start of the week to protest unmanageable crowds and chronic understaffing.
Céline Dauvergne, a communications manager for the Louvre, told The Epoch Times via email on Tuesday that the museum remained closed throughout Monday morning “due to a social movement,” but was able to reopen later that day at 2:30 p.m.
“The Musée du Louvre will not make further comment,” Dauvergne added.
The strike comes just months after French President Emmanuel Macron announced an ambitious project aimed at modernizing the world’s most visited museum, which welcomed nearly 9 million visitors in 2024.
The renovation, unveiled in late January, is expected to be completed in 2031. It includes plans to expand the museum with underground exhibition spaces and a new entrance, as well as a dedicated room for Leonardo da Vinci’s most famous work, the Mona Lisa.
However, Sarah Sefian, a gallery attendant and visitor services agent at the museum, said the renovations aren’t happening soon enough.
“We can’t wait six years for help,” she said in a statement. “Our teams are under pressure now. It’s not just about the art—it’s about the people protecting it.”
On Jan. 13, the Louvre’s president, Laurence des Cars, sent a three-page memo to French Culture Minister Rachida Dati, sounding the alarm about the museum’s dilapidated condition.
The Louvre officially opened its doors in August 1793. The gallery is housed in a former palace built along the right bank of the Seine River in the mid-1500s at the site of a 12th-century fortress.