The Louvre in Paris has launched an international design competition for a new exhibition space for the Mona Lisa, as well as a new entrance.
The architectural competition was launched on Friday (27 June). It will be decided by a 21-person international jury, with five finalists to be selected in October and a winner announced in early 2026.
The project was first announced in January by French President Emmanuel Macron, which came after the Louvre’s director Laurence des Cars said the museum was in need of an overhaul.
Visiting the institution has become a “physical ordeal”, with some spaces in “very poor condition”, she wrote in a leaked memo.
The design competition calls for a new 33,000-square-foot gallery in the institution to display the Mona Lisa by Leonardo da Vinci.
“Our aim is to offer a high-quality encounter with this masterpiece,” Des Cars told Le Monde in an interview published on Friday (via the New York Times).
€270m Louvre renovation
Additionally, the competition calls for plans for a new entrance to the museum in order to accommodate the Louvre’s nine million annual guests.
“[I.M. Pei‘s] pyramid is brilliant, but it’s no longer enough to accommodate the nine million visitors who flock to our museum every year,” Des Cars told Le Monde.
Rachida Dati, France’s culture minister, also announced the project on X and said it marked “a new chapter for Paris and France’s cultural influence”.
For the new exhibition space and entrance, the Louvre has set a budget of €270 million ($316m).
This figure does not include plans for major renovation works to improve infrastructure and add new toilet and dining facilities.
The Louvre is designed to welcome about 4 million visitors annually, but hosted 8.7 million people in 2024.
To address overcrowding in recent years, the Louvre has limited daily attendance and raised ticket prices.
Images courtesy of the Louvre
