Louvre museum Paris

Tickets for the Louvre museum in Paris rose almost 30 percent on Monday. Would you still pay that much to see the Mona Lisa?
Photo: Thomas Samson / AFP

Louvre museum set to reopen this July

The Louvre museum in Paris, home to the ‘Mona Lisa’, is set to reopen on 6 July 2020, almost four months after it was forced to close.

Louvre museum Paris

Tickets for the Louvre museum in Paris rose almost 30 percent on Monday. Would you still pay that much to see the Mona Lisa?
Photo: Thomas Samson / AFP

France’s Louvre Museum is getting ready to reopen almost four months after it was forced to close down to the public. Even though the museum is preparing to reopen, visitors will find one feature missing: the heaving crowd jostling to get a view of the Mona Lisa.

According to Reuters, with many foreign tourists not expected back for months, and strict social distancing measures in place, the post-outbreak Louvre that is set to open on 6 July 2020 is likely to be a more serene experience than usual.

‘The world’s most visited museum’

At the moment staff at the museum are preparing the Louvre that, according to managers, is the world’s most visited museum. The museum’s director Jean-Luc Martinez said the museum’s sheer size – 45 000 square metres of galleries containing 30 000 works will reopen – means it will not be hard to respect physical distancing.

“It’s not somewhere where you’re going to be crushed up against each other,” he said.

Before the outbreak, the Louvre had around one million visitors each month in the summer season. Three-quarters of them were foreign tourists. Many visitors traditionally made a beeline for Leonardo da Vinci’s Mona Lisa, often resulting in a crowd several people deep in front of it.

Martinez said the lockdown had cost about 40 million euros (around R700 million) in lost ticket office revenue, cancelled events and shop sales.

French museums you can virtually tour from home

The Louvre is one of five French museums people can tour from the comfort of their own home. As the world’s recent health pandemic continues to restrict international travel, many wanderlust travellers around the world are craving their next trip. The General Manager of Southern Africa for Air France KLM, Wouter Vermeulen noted that while we are all being responsible citizens practising social distancing, people across the world are finding creative ways to bring the world to them.

That’s why, in a bid to bring the French spirit to South African travellers, Air France shared some top French museums offering interactive tours to help bring the magic of France into your own home. Find out more over here:

Also read: Three of SA’s top celebrity chefs share their best French recipes