Gallery attendants, ticket agents and security personnel refused to take up their posts in protest over unmanageable crowds and chronic understaffing. Text and Photos Courtesy: AP/Pixabay
Popular for Mona Lisa
The museum popularly houses The Mona Lisa painting. Roughly 20,000 people a day squeeze into the Salle des États, the museum's largest room, just to snap a selfie with Leonardo da Vinci's enigmatic woman behind protective glass
Managed by the French government, The Louvre welcomed 8.7 million visitors last year ¿ more than double what its infrastructure was designed to accommodate. Even with a daily cap of 30,000, staff say it has become a daily test of endurance
History of shut downs
It's rare for The Louvre to close its doors. It has happened during war, pandemic, and in a handful of strikes including spontaneous walkouts over overcrowding in 2019 and safety fears in 2013 and now in 2025
Location
The Louvre inside the Louvre Palace is on the right bank of the Siene river is a national art museum in France, and the modern structure was built in 1793 and is currently led by director Jean-Luc Martinez, a French archaelogist and art historian
Collection
The collection at the museum has 500,000 objects and 35,000 works of art including the Mona Lisa, which is one of the most popular tourist attractions there
Pop culture
While the museum is already very popular, Dan Brown's 'The Da Vinci Code' generated even more interest as The Louvre was mentioned in the book and the 2006 was also shot inside its galleries
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