Back to grindstone for 'Mona Lisa' at post-lockdown Louvre
PARIS (AP) — The “Mona Lisa” found herself all alone. The coronavirus had emptied her room at the Louvre Museum of its usual throngs of admirers.
In a silence worthy of a cathedral, she could gaze undisturbed at the huge canvas on the opposite wall, “The Wedding Feast at Cana” that shows Christ surrounded by 130 feast-goers, painted centuries before social distancing became a thing.
But now, sigh, the world’s most famous portrait must go back to the grindstone after four months of virus-imposed inactivity.
Even with that famously enigmatic smile, the job of luring back crowds to the world's most-visited museum promises to be tough.
Before mass tourism came to a screeching halt with the coronavirus pandemic, the Louvre drew 30,000 to 50,000 visitors per day in the busy summer season. But when it reopens July 6, the museum director expects those numbers to shrivel.
“If we get 10,000 per day, I'd be very surprised," says Jean-Luc Martinez.
Which means, for those who can manage a trip to Paris, a golden opportunity for a rare, crowd-free run of the Louvre's giant galleries and vast marble staircases and maybe even some uninterrupted face-time with “Mona Lisa” herself.
About 70% of the giant museum — 45,000 square meters (484,000 square feet) of space, or the equivalent of 230 tennis courts — will be open, housing 30,000 of the Louvre's vast trove of works. Plenty to give visitors aching feet.
For Louvre employees who during lockdown kept the suddenly empty building and its treasures safe under lock and key, reopening marks the end of their other-worldly experience of having the former royal palace all to themselves.
"It was quite magical," said Leila Cherif-Hadria, who had never seen the museum so empty in her 20 years of working there.
“A moment...
