The Louvre Museum, the world’s most visited art institution, is struggling to secure funds for urgent infrastructure and facility repairs. During a recent Senate hearing, its new director, Christophe Leribault, acknowledged the museum’s deteriorating condition and financial distress. The crisis follows a daring theft of royal jewelry worth about 100 million dollars, which exposed internal weaknesses and led to the resignation of the previous director.

Leribault, an art historian specializing in eighteenth-century art, took charge in February after the October theft incident. He stated that the museum’s equipment and infrastructure have reached the end of their functional life, and pressing building issues are accumulating. Located on the banks of the Seine in central Paris, the Louvre attracts around nine million visitors annually and houses Leonardo da Vinci’s “Mona Lisa.”

The museum is also facing revenue losses from repeated strikes, a ticket fraud case involving about 10 million euros, water leakage, and maintenance complications, deepening its financial and operational challenges.