The director of Paris’s Louvre museum has warned that the world’s most visited museum is struggling with ageing infrastructure and mounting financial pressures, despite attracting around nine million visitors each year.
Addressing a French Senate committee on Wednesday, newly appointed director Christophe Leribault said the institution was “running out of steam.”
The key problem is reported to be one of funding, at a time when the museum’s “equipment and infrastructure are reaching the end of their life cycle,” according to Leribault.
While the Louvre receives around nine million visitors a year, its new leader, in place since February this year, claims to be struggling to convert this success into funding, complaining that
Building-related emergencies are piling up, and we’re facing a wall in terms of investments.
Leribault’s predecessor quit after an embarrassing daylight robbery of imperial jewels in October 2025. Staff strikes, maintenance issues, a major water leak, and a €10 million ticket fraud scheme all further damaged the institution and its reputation.
