British tourists to be charged more to see Mona Lisa because of Brexit
British tourists will have to pay more to enter the Louvre in Paris and see the Mona Lisa because of a new crackdown at the museum on non-EU visitors.
Under the changes the famous painting will also be displayed in its own special room.
French president Emmanuel Macron announced the measures to renovate the Louvre, which has been subject to overcrowding, water leaks and other damage, at the museum on Tuesday.
As part of the works, the Louvre will move the Mona Lisa to a newly created exhibition space, as well as build a new entrance near the River Seine to try to ease crowding.
The famous museum and its artworks are visited by nearly nine million visitors every year, but was not initially designed to withstand the high volume of people pouring in.
The renovations are to be completed by 2031, Mr Macron said at a speech at the Louvre, in the room where the Leonardo DaVinci masterpiece is displayed.
While the president did not disclose how much the project will cost, he said the plans for a “redesigned, restored, enlarged Louvre” will become “the epicentre of the history of art for our country and beyond”.
He added that the new entrance would “rebalance the way of visiting” the museum and “reopen it, give it back to Parisians in terms of access”.
“I believe that what we are thinking about, what we want, is to allow many other Cézannes to learn to read here, to find for some the truth in painting, for others, a passion for France, Europe,” he said.
Mr Macron went on to say that he also had plans for creating different pricing for EU and non-EU visitors to the museum.
He told culture minister Rachina Dati to “prepare a higher, differentiated pricing for foreign visitors from non-EU countries” from 2026, The Guardian reported.
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