After a wave of internal unrest that recently led to a staff strike and thousands queuing at its gates, the Musée du Louvre is taking decisive steps toward transformation. On June 27, the Paris institution announced an international architectural competition aimed at reimagining its main entrance and overhauling the experience surrounding its most famous resident: the Mona Lisa.
With a €400 million budget, the ambitious project seeks to ease congestion around the museum’s iconic glass pyramidby creating a new entrance on the building’s historic façade. Architects have been instructed to eschew mimicry of the pyramid and instead design solutions that blend organically with the existing 17th-century columns—a gesture of respect toward the museum’s layered architectural history.
At the heart of the initiative is a plan to create a 3,000-square-meter underground gallery exclusively dedicated to the Mona Lisa, complete with its own timed entrance system. This move is designed to diffuse overcrowding, a long-standing issue in the current exhibition space.
A jury of 21 experts will narrow the field to five finalists by October, with the winning design set to be announced in early 2026. The redesign marks a pivotal shift for the world’s most-visited museum, promising not only better flow and access, but also a rethinking of how visitors engage with art’s most iconic portrait in the 21st century.
Photos: Louvre