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

ongoing strike on louvre It is no longer just a labor dispute. It has become a test of how safe, reliable and efficiently the world’s most visited museum is being run.

The reason behind the walkout is not only poor labor relations, but also a building under stress, with ruined parts of the old palace now considered unsafe.

At the core of the crisis lies a deep rift: a $102 million jewel heist that exposed security failures at the core of the institution and turned long-standing employee grievances into a national phenomenon with global resonance.

The walkout is getting stricter

Tensions were already rising when a Wildcat June attack suddenly closed the museum, leaving visitors trapped beneath I.M. Pei’s glass pyramid. Weeks later, the Louvre announced the closure of offices and a public gallery due to weak floor beams, deepening concerns about neglect in the old complex.

A broad daylight robbery in October, in which thieves stole the crown jewels, intensified scrutiny from lawmakers and auditors, and workplace complaints were reframed as questions of institutional failure.

Culture Ministry officials have tried to defuse the impasse by canceling planned funding cuts for 2026, hiring additional guards and visitor services staff and proposing to raise salaries. union Rejected the measures as inadequate, indicating that confidence beyond quick solutions has weakened.

On Monday, the CFDT union said 400 workers at a meeting voted to strike over persistent staff shortages, deteriorating buildings and management decisions. Workers voted to extend the action on Wednesday, forcing the Louvre to operate at a restricted level.

The museum partially reopened a limited “Masterpiece Trail”, providing access to the “Masterpiece Trail”.mona lisa,” the Venus de Milo and a handful of galleries – a stopgap that allows visitors inside while also highlighting how far normal operations have slipped away.

The pressure has now shifted entirely to Louvre President Laurence des Cars. The ministry has announced emergency anti-infiltration measures and appointed Philippe Jost, who oversaw the restoration of Notre Dame Cathedral, to help reorganize the museum. It is a move that is widely read as a sign that confidence in the current regime has been shaken.

$102 million failure, measured in seconds

French senators were told last week that thieves who stole more than $100 million worth of the crown jewels fled the Louvre in the space of barely 30 seconds, a detail that made clear the scale of the breakdown.

A parliamentary inquiry described the theft of 19 October as one of the consequences of wider failures. Only one of the two cameras covering the break-in point was functioning, and security staff lacked sufficient screens to monitor the footage in real time.

When the alarm was finally raised, police were initially dispatched to the wrong location, a delay that proved decisive, investigators said.

Noel Corbin, who led the investigation, said, “Give or take 30 seconds, guards or police could have stopped them.”

Audits in 2017 and 2019 had already flagged vulnerabilities that were later exploited in the heist, but recommended improvements were never fully implemented.

All four suspected robbers have been arrested, but the jewels are missing. Interpol has listed stolen art pieces in its database amid fears they could be broken into or smuggled abroad.

For the workers now on strike, the Senate findings confirm what they say they have warned about for years: that the museum’s security was weak, its warnings went unheeded, and the margin of error was measured in seconds.

an institution under physical stress

The robbery has focused attention on the condition of the Louvre. Parts of the vast complex have been closed after authorities discovered structural weaknesses, including the nine rooms of the Campana Gallery dedicated to ancient Greek ceramics. Technical reports cited “particular fragility” in the supporting beams, leading to staff relocation and closure until further notice.

Unions say parts of the centuries-old building are in “very poor condition”, pointing to incidents such as a water leak in November that damaged hundreds of historical books as a sign of widespread neglect.

President Emmanuel Macron’s “New Renaissance” renovation plan, launched in early 2025 to modernize the Louvre and manage overcrowding, includes an expanded entrance and major upgrades. Critics say it has moved too slowly and focused too much on core projects. A court audit revealed significant delays in deploying modern security equipment and found that only a fraction of the allocated funds were spent on security.

Protest against special room for ‘Monalisa’

The proposal to give Leonardo da Vinci’s “Mona Lisa” a dedicated room with its own entrance was aimed at reducing crowding. Instead, it has become a symbol of what activists see as misplaced priorities.

Backed by Macron, the plan would separate the paintings from the Salle des États to improve the flow of visitors. Supporters say this reflects the reality of mass tourism, with most tourists coming primarily to see the “Mona Lisa.”

Unions say the project highlights a fixation on blockbuster attractions while understaffing, infrastructure deficiencies and security flaws persist. They argue that the money earmarked for the redesign would be better spent on repairs, surveillance upgrades and front-line staffing. Some 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 Martínez told senators this week that he believed the museum’s security plan was adequate, avoiding accepting personal responsibility for the failures exposed by the robbery.

Martínez, who led the Louvre from 2013 to 2021, said he was “shocked, shaken and hurt” by the robbery and stressed that security has been a priority during his tenure. MPs pressed him on why weaknesses identified in earlier audits, including a 2019 review of the Galerie d’Apollon, were not addressed.

He acknowledged delays to a wider 54 million euro security overhaul with contracts “launching in 2022”. When his successor was later told that the plan was incomplete, Martínez replied: “I thought the plan was adequate.”