“The Last Stronghold Before Collapse” – The Louvre Museum closes as workers begin a strike | Paris

The crisis-hit Louvre Museum in Paris was closed on Monday, as workers went on strike to demand urgent renovations and increased staffing, and to protest higher ticket prices for most visitors from outside the European Union, including British and American tourists.

The world’s most visited museum – which has had a difficult few months following a jewel heist, a devastating water leak and safety concerns over its gallery roof – could face days of partial or total closure at one of the busiest times of the year if many of its 2,100-person workforce vote to continue the strike this week.

The Louvre is still reeling from the aftermath of the robbery that took place on October 19, when a gang of four people raided the museum during daylight hours, stealing an estimated €88 million (£77 million) worth of French crown jewels in seven minutes before fleeing on motorbikes. Four men were arrested and placed under official investigation, but the jewelry was not found.

In November, a water leak destroyed between 300 and 400 magazines, books and documents in the Egyptian section. A nine-room gallery containing ancient Greek ceramics was subsequently closed due to concerns about the integrity of the roof.

The Louvre’s three trade unions – the CGT, the SUD and the CFDT – announced a continuing strike, saying: “The employees today feel as if they are the last bastion before collapse.”

At a general meeting, 400 employees voted unanimously to go on strike on Monday morning. At the picket line, a night security guard, who said he has worked at the museum for 20 years, said: “I have never seen staff so angry.” “The pressure in our working lives is intense,” said another daytime security guard who has worked for 14 years checking visitors entering the museum.

The unions said the jewelery theft highlighted years of difficulties, staff cuts and a lack of state investment in the museum, which welcomed 8.7 million visitors last year.

Several employees and union representatives said it was discriminatory for the Louvre to raise ticket prices by 45% for visitors from outside the European Economic Area, to raise revenue to fund structural improvements.

People from countries such as the US, Britain and China, which account for some of the museum’s largest visitor numbers, will have to pay €32 to enter from January.

On the picket line, Vanessa Michaud Valora, of the SudCulture union, who works in security in several wings of the Louvre Museum, said that price increases for non-Europeans are unacceptable. “For example, how can you charge Egyptian visitors extra when they come to see their own works in our Egyptian collection? The same applies to our Mesopotamian collections and other works,” she said.

She called for halting the major project announced by French President Emmanuel Macron last January to build the entrance to a new museum and giving the Mona Lisa, the most famous painting in the world, a room of its own.

“Money should be allocated to renovate and strengthen the building instead of building a new entrance to bring in more people,” she said.

Christian Galani, a union official representing Louvre Museum workers, said that raising ticket prices for some nationalities is “unacceptable discrimination.” “What’s worse is that these visitors will have to pay more to see a dilapidated museum, where they cannot access the entire collection because we are chronically understaffed and rooms are regularly closed.”

He said it was an “absolute scandal” to make visitors from certain countries “pay the price for years of accumulated failures” in a museum whose collection consists of works from all over the world.

“This goes against the universality of culture and the idea of ​​equal access to it,” Galani said. “For example, this will affect British tourists, but if you go to the British Museum, it will be free.”

Unions are concerned about recruitment and working conditions after 200 jobs were cut since 2015 – many in security.

Galani, who works in the museum’s security control room at night, said of the strike: “We are very angry; this is the only way left to make our voice heard. The problems have been accumulating for years, and the theft has highlighted everything. There has been neglect of both the renovation of the buildings and security measures to protect the collection.”

Last month, France’s state auditor said security improvements had been implemented at a “grossly insufficient pace” and that the museum had prioritized “high-profile and attractive operations” rather than protecting itself.

Guy Tubiana, a senior police officer and security consultant, who took part in the investigation ordered by the Ministry of Culture after the jewelery theft, told senators he was “astonished” by what he discovered at the museum.

He said: “There were a series of malfunctions that led to a disaster, but I never thought that the Louvre could suffer so many malfunctions.”

Culture Minister Rachida Dati said the preliminary investigation ordered by the government revealed a “chronic underestimation” of the risks of break-ins and a “lack of investment in security measures.”

Philippe Juste, who headed the rebuilding of the fire-damaged Notre Dame Cathedral in Paris, is scheduled to conduct a study next month into a “deep reorganization” of the Louvre.

The director of the Louvre Museum, Laurence de Carre, as well as the unions, had repeatedly warned before the storming of the conditions inside the museum and the cost of maintaining the huge former royal palace.

In January, she said visiting the crowded building had become a “physical ordeal.”

A public meeting on whether to continue the strike is scheduled for Wednesday morning. The museum is closed on Tuesdays.