Three quarters of the renovation work at the Louvre will be financed by ticket sales, announces the president and director of the museum

Three quarters of the work planned as part of the vast renovation plan for the Louvre Museum, called Louvre Nouvelle Renaissance, "will be financed by our ticket office", announced Friday October 16 on France Inter Christophe Leribault, president and director of the Louvre Museum, one year after the spectacular theft in the Apollo gallery. This major renovation plan, announced in 2025 by Emmanuel Macron, is estimated at one billion euros and provides for work in the building and the construction of a new entrance, but also a new room dedicated to the Mona Lisa.

Christophe Leribault assures that this project will be financed to the tune of 300 million euros by the United Arab Emirates and that 360 million euros remain to be found from patrons. “It’s huge, in France, we have never had a challenge of this level,” assures the president of the Louvre, who insists: “This is necessary work if we want the Louvre to remain the most beautiful and largest museum in the world.”

The new room dedicated to “The Mona Lisa”

The new room dedicated to the Mona Lisa is a central issue in this project, the current one being too often stormed by visitors. “Often, people who come to see the Mona Lisa have never visited a museum. This confrontation with this masterpiece must not be disappointing, it must be made interesting by providing access,” maintains Christophe Leribault, who specifies that the new room dedicated to the Mona Lisa will be located “under the Cour Carrée”.

One year after the spectacular theft at the Louvre Museum, in the Apollon gallery, on October 19, 2025, the new president of the museum ensures that security work is underway. “The challenge is heavy, but we absolutely must be able to cope,” he explains. “The teams were very hurt and touched in their hearts” by this burglary, describes Christophe Leribault. “Museums, which we thought were a bit of a sanctuary, have now become a target across the world,” he regrets in the face of the increase in thefts that have occurred in museums in France and Europe in recent months.