Gioconda in Lombardy after infiltrations at the Louvre? What does the descendant of Mona Lisa say

Louvre ‘suffers’ water infiltrations and ‘overcrowding’The worried letter of the director of the well -known Museum of Paris reveals it, Laurence des Cars. According to the woman, the conditions of the museum put the conservation of works of art at risk and for this reason the Lombard councilor for culture, Francesca carusohe said he was ready to host Leonardo da Vinci’s best known work in Lombardy. A proposal accepted even by the descendant of Mona Lisa Gherardini, who inspired the Mona Lisa. “It would allow many people to be able to admire it by avoiding having to move to the villa Lumière,” said Natalia Strozzi to the Adnkronos.

The French president Emmanuel Macron has announced that he will go to Louvre on Tuesday afternoon to make an inspection And to speak with the managers of the deterioration of the largest museum in the world. “Louvre is a symbol of France, it is a source of French pride. It would be wrong to decide not to listen to and not to see the risks that afflict the museum today,” an presidential hidden official who asked for to remain anonymous.

The letter: “Infiltration and overcrowding”

It was a letter to the Minister of French Culture, Rachida datawho had to remain confidential but who has leaked in the press, as the newspaper ‘Le Parisien’ revealed yesterday Thursday 23 January, to burst The case of the Louvre that ‘suffers’ of water infiltrations is overcrowding’, Putting the location of Leonardo da Vinci’s Loconda in bad light. Des Cars, the first woman to lead the Paris Museum in over 230 years history, wrote to the Minister that the deterioration of the Louvre structures threatens his world -renowned art collection.

There is a “proliferation of damage in the museum spaces, some of which are in poor condition”, wrote Des Cars in the letter. The director then added that Some sections of the museum “are no longer waterproofwhile others suffer significant variations in temperature, putting at risk the conservation of works of art“. A profound revision of the museum is needed, added Des Cars, despite the external complications due to the closing for five years of the Center Pompidou for its renovation and the French government’s budget crisis.

“Re -evaluate” the Exposition of the Mona Lisa

Louvre is also the most popular museum in the worldwith about 8.7 visitors recorded in its galleries in 2024. However, This popularity is causing a “physical pressure” on the buildingwhile the spaces for visitors “to take a break” are becoming increasingly scarce, the director wrote to the minister. “The catering options and toilets are insufficient, well below international standards. Signs need a complete redesign,” said Des Cars. He also examined the most modern element of the museum – the glass pyramid designed by the Cino -American architect IM Pei and inaugurated in 1989 – for its “serious deficiencies”. According to Des Cars, the pyramid traps the heat as a greenhouse, making the summer events “inhospitable”. The letter also mentions the main attraction of the museum, the Mona Lisa di Leonardo da Vinci.

According to the detections of the Louvre, About 80% of ticket owners go to the Salle des États to see the portrait of Mona Lisa: These are 20 thousand -30 thousand visitors per day, well beyond how much the historic gallery was destined to welcome. Des Cars underlined the need to “re -evaluate” the Exposition of the Mona Lisa, with an alternative, a room dedicated to the enigmatic masterpiece. Since he hired the direction of the museum in 2021, Des Cars has publicly spoke of the need to improve the daily operations of the museum. In his note to the Ministry, he also supported the idea of ​​building a second respective entry to the pyramid.

An unprecedented expense

Louvre is a national museum, therefore a significant percentage of its operating costs, including maintenance, is borne by the state. A renovation of the entity deemed necessary by Des Cars would be an unprecedented expense.

” At least 100 million euros of investments would be needed, in particular for priority restoration works, of which only 26 million are insured in 2024, the rest will have to be extended until 2032, due to lack of budget, “he said to the FP a well -informed source. The management of the museum estimated 500 million the investment necessary for the maintenance, restoration and redevelopment of the building and an additional 400 million for the construction of the new entrance and new rooms that could host the Mona Lisa and temporary exhibitions.

The last large phase of the museum works ended in 1995 with the end of the construction of the Grand Louvre desired by François Mitterrand. The museum was, in about ten years, its dimensions tripled by opening new exhibition spaces, but also technical-scientific and reception areas that were missing, in particular the pyramid and its large room. Designed to host 4 million visitors, these structures are now reaching their limits with a more than doubled number of presences, the BFMTV issuer points out.

The councilor Caruso: “Ready to host ‘Loconda’ in Lombardy”

“We are ready to host ‘the Mona Gioconda’ in Lombardy,” commented the regional councilor for culture, Francesca Caruso. “I do not enter on the president’s precise observations on the state of the museum – adds Caruso – but I welcome the appeal relating to the search for a different location. I would say that pending the decisions of the French government regarding travel or renovation, We in Lombardy are happy to host this work that best represents Italian art and culture and is the heritage of all humanity“.

“A ‘hospitality’-concludes Councilor Caruso-who would have an even stronger meaning if projected in view of the Milan-Cortina 2026 Olympics. It would be the best way to make this splendor of the Italian genius to the general public that will come to Lombardy usable And he will decide to visit Leonardo da Vinci’s works in what I love to call ‘Vinciano’ circuit “.

Mona Lisa descendant: “You have to protect the Mona Lisa”

“The idea of ​​the Regional Councilor for Culture of Lombardy is not bad to ‘host’ the Mona Lisa for a period, given the problems in which the Louvre Museum of Paris pours,” he told Adnkronos Natalia Strozzidescendant of Mona Lisa Gherardini, who inspired Leonardo da Vinci’s Mona Lisa. “It would allow many people to be able to admire it by avoiding having to move to the villa Lumière,” he added from his Cusona estate in Tuscany.

“It is rare to see the portrait of the Mona Lisa in Italian museums because the famous painting, actually, has traveled very little. Indeed I would suggest to the regional councilor of Lombardy to approach Mona Lisa del Louvre the christened picture ‘Earlier Mona Lisa’ (O ‘Isleworth Mona Lisa ‘) that Leonardo made about 10 years earlier, today in Zurich. He was more in Florence, and only later he traveled with him to the ground of France “.

Natalia Strozzi also underlines that “it must be the Louvre museum to take charge of such an important decision. After all, Leonardo da Vinci reveals it to the king of France, so it is right that it remains in Paris and does not return to our country, how Someone hopes, almost to respect its will.