Unions at the Louvre have called a rolling strike starting 15 December following a series of crises at the Paris museum, including a high-profile jewel theft in October and a water leak in November that damaged hundreds of works in the Louvre's Egyptian department.
On Sunday, the Louvre museum's deputy administrator Francis Steinbock announced that "between 300 and 400 works" were affected by a leak discovered on 26 November, describing them as "Egyptology journals" and "scientific documentation" used by researchers.
The damaged items date from the late 19th and early 20th centuries and are "extremely useful" but are "by no means unique", Steinbock added.
"No heritage artefacts have been affected by this damage," he said, adding that "at this stage, we have no irreparable and definitive losses in these collections".
Ageing infrastructure
The Louvre said there would be an internal investigation into the November leak, which was caused by the accidental opening of a valve in the heating and ventilation system that led to water seeping through the ceiling of the Pavillon Mollien where the books were stored.
The "completely obsolete" system has been shut down for months and is due to be replaced from September 2026, the museum administrator added.
As for the works, they will "be dried, sent to a bookbinder to be restored, and then returned to the shelves," he added.
The incident follows an October heist in which a four-person gang raided the art museum in broad daylight, stealing jewellery worth an estimated 87 million euros, sparking debate over the museum's ageing infrastructure.
Staff at the Louvre museum have called on Monday to a "renewable strike" starting on 15 December to protest against "deteriorating working conditions" and "insufficient resources", the CFDT union told French news agency AFP.
Louvre Museum to hike ticket price by 45 percent for non-EU visitors
In late November, the Louvre said it would raise ticket prices for most non-EU visitors, meaning US, British and Chinese tourists among others will have to pay 32 euros to get in.
The museum said the 45-percent price hike aims to boost annual revenues by up to 19 million euros to fund structural improvements at the cultural institution.
The Louvre is the world's most-visited museum, welcoming 8.7 million visitors in 2024, 69 percent of them from abroad.
(with AFP)
