Why the world’s most visited museum has reached a breaking point

PARIS AP The ongoing strike at the Louvre is no longer just a labor dispute It has become a test of how securely credibly and competently the world s greater part visited museum is being run Behind the walkout are not only frayed labor relations but a building itself under strain with crumbling parts of the aging former palace now deemed unsafe At the heart of the problem lies a deeper rupture a million jewel heist that exposed safeguard failures at the core of the institution and transformed long-simmering staff grievances into a national reckoning with global resonance The walkout is hardening Tensions were already rising when a wildcat June strike abruptly shut the museum stranding visitors beneath I M Pei s glass pyramid Weeks later the Louvre disclosed the closure of offices and a constituents gallery because of weakened floor beams deepening concern about neglect across the aging complex The October daylight robbery in which thieves stole crown jewels intensified scrutiny from lawmakers and auditors and reframing workplace complaints as questions of institutional failure Tradition Ministry bureaucrats have tried to defuse the standoff by proposing to cancel a planned funding cut hire additional guards and visitor services staff and raise pay Unions rejected the measures as inadequate signaling that trust has frayed beyond quick fixes On Monday the CFDT union reported that workers at a meeting voted to strike over chronic understaffing deteriorating buildings and management decisions Workers on Wednesday voted to extend the action forcing the Louvre to operate on a restricted footing The museum partially reopened a limited masterpiece way granting access to the Mona Lisa the Venus de Milo and a handful of galleries a stopgap that allowed visitors inside while highlighting how far normal operations have slipped Pressure has now shifted squarely onto Louvre President Laurence des Cars The ministry has revealed crisis anti-intrusion measures and appointed Philippe Jost who oversaw the restoration of Notre Dame Cathedral to help reorganize the museum It s a step widely read as a sign that confidence in existing governance has been shaken A million failure measured in seconds French senators were described last week that thieves who stole crown jewels valued at more than million escaped the Louvre with barely seconds to spare a detail that crystallized the scale of the breakdown A parliamentary inquiry described the Oct theft as one of the effect of cascading failures Only one of two cameras covering the break-in point was functioning and assurance staff lacked enough screens to monitor footage in real time When the alarm decisively sounded police were initially sent to the wrong location investigators commented a delay that proved decisive Give or take seconds guards or police could have intercepted them disclosed No l Corbin who led the inquiry Audits in and had already flagged vulnerabilities later exploited in the heist but recommended fixes were never fully implemented All four suspected robbers have been arrested but the jewels remain missing Interpol has listed the pieces in its database of stolen art amid fears they could be broken up or smuggled abroad For staff now on strike the Senate findings endorsed what they say they had warned for years that the museum s defenses were thin its warnings unheeded and its margin for error measured in seconds An institution under physical strain The heist has sharpened attention on the Louvre s condition Parts of the vast complex have been closed after leaders discovered structural weaknesses including nine rooms in the Campana Gallery devoted to ancient Greek ceramics Technical reports cited particular fragility in supporting beams forcing staff relocations and closures until further notice Unions say sections of the centuries-old building are in very poor condition pointing to incidents such as a November water leak that damaged hundreds of historic books as signs of broader neglect President Emmanuel Macron s New Renaissance renovation plan launched in early to modernize the Louvre and manage overcrowding includes expanded entrances and major upgrades Critics say it has moved too slowly and focused too heavily on headline projects A court audit flagged considerable delays in deploying modern safety equipment and exposed that only a fraction of allocated funds had been spent on safety Opposition to a special room for the Mona Lisa A proposal to give Leonardo da Vinci s Mona Lisa a dedicated room with its own entrance was intended to ease crushing crowds Instead it has become a symbol of what workers see as misplaced priorities Backed by Macron the plan would separate the painting from the Salle des tats to improve visitor flow Supporters say it reflects the reality of mass tourism with preponderance visitors coming primarily to see the Mona Lisa Unions counter that the project highlights a fixation on blockbuster attractions while staffing shortages infrastructure decay and guard gaps persist They argue that money earmarked for redesign would be better spent on repairs surveillance upgrades and front-line staffing Various also fear the move could open the door to tiered access or higher prices Former director denies responsibility for failures Former Louvre director Jean-Luc Martinez explained senators this week that he maintained the museum s safeguard plan was sufficient stopping short of accepting personal responsibility for failures exposed by the heist Martinez who led the Louvre from to explained he was struck shaken and wounded by the robbery and insisted defense had been a priority during his tenure Lawmakers pressed him on why vulnerabilities identified in earlier audits including a review of the Galerie d Apollon were not addressed He acknowledged delays to a broader -million-euro shield overhaul with contracts supposed to be launched in When described his successor later judged the plan incomplete Martinez replied I thought this plan was sufficient Source