29 May 2019
Louvre reopens after overcrowding forces museum closure
BY Andy Knaggs
The Louvre Museum has opened today but says it strongly recommends that prospective visitors buy tickets online, after it shut down on Monday due to overcrowding.
The recent TEA/AECOM Theme and Museum Index showed that the attraction, which was already the world’s top-attended museum, had a record-breaking year with 10.2 million visitors in 2018 – an increase of 26 per cent or two million people more than the previous year.
However, the union for security and visitor services staff (the Sud Culture Solidaires) says that general staff numbers have declined by more than 7 per cent, while security and surveillance staff numbers are down by almost 18 per cent.
These factors have led to long queues at the museum, especially to see Leonardo da Vinci's Mona Lisa, with staff bearing the brunt of visitors' frustration. A union representative told Associated Press that renovation work around the masterpiece had exacerbated the problems. Workers walked out on Monday, citing the overcrowding as the reason for the strike.
A meeting was held on Wednesday morning to decide whether the museum would open again after the usual Tuesday closure. The decision was made to reopen after management agreed to bring in 30 more employees on a temporary basis over summer. Visitors to the Louvre are being told to buy tickets online to ensure their entry to the "exceptionally busy" museum.
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