The Louvre, the most visited museum in the world and a universal representation of beauty, art, and perseverance, has survived pandemics, wars, and terrorist attacks. However, on Monday, its own striking employees forced the museum to close, claiming that the institution is collapsing under the strain of mass tourism.
The site of Leonardo da Vinci’s creations and centuries’ worth of civilization’s finest treasures, paralysed by the very individuals entrusted with greeting the world to its galleries, was an almost unimaginable sight. With tickets in hand, thousands of bewildered and stranded tourists were gathered into immobile queues around I.M. Pei’s glass pyramid.
Milwaukee resident Kevin Ward, 62, remarked, “It’s the Mona Lisa moan out here.” “There is no explanation, no contact, and thousands of people are waiting. Even she needs a day off, I suppose.
The Louvre has come to represent tourism at its most extreme. With millions of visitors, the most famous museum in the world is reaching its breaking point as tourist destinations from Venice to the Acropolis scramble to control crowds.
Just a day before, coordinated anti-tourism demonstrations had swept over southern Europe. In Mallorca, Venice, Lisbon, and other cities, thousands of people demonstrated against an economic model that they claim uproots residents and undermines urban life. In a dramatic attempt to “cool down” unruly tourism, campaigners in Barcelona doused visitors with water guns.
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