Long lines beneath I.M. Pei’s glass pyramid in Paris have become as much a part of the experience as the Mona Lisa itself.
Now the Louvre is putting a higher price on that pilgrimage, raising admission prices on Wednesday for most non-European visitors by nearly half as it tries to shore up finances after repeated strikes, chronic overcrowding— and a brazen French Crown Jewels heist that shook the institution.
The museum said the 45 per cent price hike to 32 euros ($51 Cdn), up from 22 euros, is part of a national “differentiated pricing” policy announced early last year that’s coming into force across major cultural sites, including the Versailles Palace, the Paris Opera and the Sainte-Chapelle.
But French worker unions have denounced the Louvre ticketing change, saying it undermines the universal mission of the world’s most visited museum — home to the Venus de Milo and the Winged Victory of Samothrace.
Some visitors echoed those concerns outside the Louvre on Wednesday.
In a brazen daytime robbery, thieves use a crane to break into the Louvre museum in Paris and steal priceless jewels before escaping on motorbikes.
“Culture should be open to everyone — yes — at the same price,” said Laurent Vallet, visiting Paris from Burgundy.
Despite the hike, workers walked out again Monday in the latest strike over pay and working conditions, thrusting the museum’s internal strain back into public view.
‘We’re still going to go’
The change affects visitors from most non-EU countries, including the United States, which typically accounts for the majority of the Louvre’s foreign tourists.
Under the new structure, visitors who are neither citizens nor residents of the EU — or Iceland, Liechtenstein and Norway — will pay the higher rate.
The new price applies to individual visitors outside Europe; guided groups will pay 28 euros, with tours capped at 20 people “to maintain the quality of the visit,” the museum said.
Still, some tourists questioned the logic of charging visitors more. “In general, for tourists, things should be a little bit cheaper than local people, because we have to travel to come all the way here,” said Darla Daniela Quiroz, visiting from Vancouver.
Others said they would pay anyway. “It’s one of the main attractions here in Paris … We’re still going to go,” said Allison Moore, a Canadian tourist from Newfoundland visiting with her mother. “Hopefully it’ll be all worth it in the end.”
The CGT Culture union has denounced the policy, arguing it turns access to culture into a “commercial product” and creates unequal access to national heritage
Some categories remain eligible for free admission, though, including visitors under 18.
The last price hike was in January 2024, when the standard entry fee rose from 17 euros to 22 euros.
Not just the Mona Lisa
Versailles and other flagship tourist attractions are also adopting similar two-tier pricing this month.
At Versailles, the “Passport” ticket will cost 35 euros in the high season for visitors from outside the European Union, Iceland, Liechtenstein and Norway, compared to 32 euros for visitors who are citizens or residents of those countries. At Sainte-Chapelle, the ticket rises to 22 euros for visitors from outside those countries, versus 16 euros for those within them, according to heritage officials.
The Louvre said the new tariff will help finance investment under its “Louvre — New Renaissance” modernization project and could bring in as much as 20 million euros more per year.
French museums had already been considering higher fees for visitors from outside Europe before the Oct. 19 theft of French Crown Jewels from the Louvre, valued by investigators at about 88 million euros.
However, the robbery — carried out in daylight, in minutes — intensified scrutiny of how France protects its most prized cultural treasures.
It also fuelled debate over how major landmarks should pay for upgrades and whether visitors should carry a bigger share of the cost.
Elsewhere in Europe, the standard entry to Rome’s Colosseum, along with the Forum and Palatine Hill, is 18 euros ($29 Cdn), and an adult ticket for Athens’ Acropolis is 30 euros ($48 Cdn).
Strike, strike — and strike again
The Louvre has repeatedly been forced to confront its internal stresses in public.
In June, a wildcat strike by gallery attendants, ticket agents and security staff delayed the museum’s daily opening, leaving thousands of visitors stranded beneath the pyramid.
Workers said the Louvre had buckled under mass tourism, citing unmanageable crowds, chronic understaffing and deteriorating working conditions.
By December, unions said the heist and the building’s condition had turned their long-running grievances into a national reckoning. Louvre workers voted to continue striking until what they consider real change comes to the aging former royal palace.
