The Director General of the Louvre, France's largest museum, Laurence des Cars, appealed to the Ministry of Culture with a complaint about the deteriorating condition of the palace, the dilapidation of its structures, and the associated threat to the exhibits. This was reported by the newspaper Le Parisien.

Excerpts from the letter, dated January 13th, cited by the publication, mention a "worrying level of obsolescence" in some of the buildings, where damage to the premises is increasing, sometimes seriously. Some areas are "no longer waterproof", and in some places "worrying temperature fluctuations are recorded, which endanger the preservation of works of art", the director believes. The glass pyramid, installed in place of a fountain in the square in front of the palace, is "structurally outdated", according to the director.

Des Cars also points out the inadequate presentation of one of the main exhibits – the painting "La Gioconda" ("Mona Lisa") by Leonardo da Vinci.

"Elevated to the status of an icon, the “Mona Lisa” has been admired for decades. The consequence of such popularity is that a large number of people flock to the hall without receiving the keys to understanding the work and the artist himself, which calls into question the very mission that the museum performs", writes the director of the Louvre.

ORIENT News