{"id":53331,"date":"2026-05-02T02:04:24","date_gmt":"2026-05-02T02:04:24","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/people\/53331\/"},"modified":"2026-05-02T02:04:24","modified_gmt":"2026-05-02T02:04:24","slug":"president-emmanuel-macrons-cultural-legacy-at-risk-after-louvre-chief-resigns","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/people\/53331\/","title":{"rendered":"President Emmanuel Macron\u2019s Cultural Legacy At Risk After Louvre Chief Resigns"},"content":{"rendered":"

Laurence des Cars, who resigned this week<\/a> as president of the Louvre Museum, is the most prominent casualty of the chaos that enveloped the world-famous French institution after an audacious heist of crown jewels<\/a> last October.<\/p>\n

But she may not be the only one.<\/p>\n

France\u2019s president, Emmanuel Macron, is at risk of losing what could be a legacy-defining cultural project: a $1 billion-plus refurbishment of the Louvre, which would include moving the Mona Lisa, the museum\u2019s most famous painting, to its own room and building a new entrance. The turmoil at the Louvre has thrown that ambitious plan into doubt, even though the government insists it is moving ahead.<\/p>\n

For Mr. Macron, who will step down as president next year, it would be the latest in a series of disappointments. Parliament voted last fall to suspend pension reform, his signature domestic initiative, after his misbegotten decision to call parliamentary elections in 2024 left him weakened.<\/p>\n

While Mr. Macron remains a significant figure on the global stage \u2014 he is giving a much-anticipated speech next Monday on France\u2019s role in providing nuclear deterrence for its European neighbors \u2014 his lame-duck status and the country\u2019s precarious finances have constrained his statesmanship.<\/p>\n

In many countries, scaling back a building project would register as little more than a scratch for a leader. In France, however, where presidents have long viewed these grand projects as crowning achievements \u2014 and where having an \u201cedifice complex\u201d<\/a> is a feature rather than a bug \u2014 losing the Louvre project could sting.<\/p>\n

Georges Pompidou, who led France from 1969 to 1974, is known for the postmodern cultural center that bears his name. Val\u00e9ry Giscard d\u2019Estaing, who succeeded him, is credited with conceiving what became the Mus\u00e9e d\u2019Orsay. His successor, Fran\u00e7ois Mitterrand, is identified with the Louvre\u2019s pyramid entrance. And the name of Jacques Chirac, who replaced Mr. Mitterrand, is on the Mus\u00e9e du Quai Branly.<\/p>\n

\u00c9ric Roussel, a historian of the French presidency, said the attraction of presidents to these grand projects was rooted in Charles de Gaulle\u2019s concept of the post-World War II presidency as a \u201ckind of republican monarchy,\u201d one that is comfortable extending the aesthetic legacy of certain French kings.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf we look back at French history, there is indeed a Louis XV style, a Louis XVI style, an Empire style, and so on,\u201d Mr. Roussel said. \u201cI\u2019m not saying that it\u2019s conscious, but I think that it plays a part.\u201d<\/p>\n

Mr. Macron, he said, has already won credit for leading the reconstruction of Notre-Dame after the cathedral was gravely damaged by a fire in 2019<\/a>. But the Louvre project was intended to be something even more ambitious: the reimagining of a symbol of French classicism and transformation of one of the world\u2019s top tourist destinations.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe Louvre will be redesigned and restored to become the epicenter of art history for our country and beyond,\u201d Mr. Macron said last year, when he announced the project while standing in front of Leonardo da Vinci\u2019s 16th-century masterpiece.<\/p>\n

Officially, the refurbishment project, known as \u201cLouvre \u2014 New Renaissance,\u201d is still full speed ahead.<\/p>\n

A spokeswoman for Mr. Macron, Maud Bregeon, said on Wednesday that Ms. des Cars\u2019s newly appointed replacement, Christophe Leribault<\/a>, would be \u201cresponsible for leading important and major projects for the future of the institution, including securing and modernizing the Louvre and continuing the \u2018Louvre New Renaissance\u2019 project.\u201d<\/p>\n

But with the project coming under fierce criticism from art critics, a government-appointed auditor and the museum\u2019s unionized workers, some now question whether it will ever advance beyond blueprints.<\/p>\n

Raising the hundreds of millions of euros needed to pay for it will be a stretch, critics said. The museum recently postponed a meeting to choose the winner of an architectural competition for the project.<\/p>\n

Several experts said that Mr. Macron may have to make do with a cheaper, more utilitarian renovation of the ancient building\u2019s corroded pipes and weakened structural beams. Though still costly, the Louvre could finance that lesser sum with the fees it generates from licensing its brand to a Louvre outpost in Abu Dhabi, the capital of the United Arab Emirates.<\/p>\n

Ms. des Cars was a fervent champion of the bigger project. Last November, she told the National Assembly that the new entrance was necessary to give millions of visitors quick, easy access to the Louvre\u2019s collections. Eighty percent of people<\/a> come to see only the Mona Lisa, which creates crowd-control problems.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt will finally allow the Louvre to be a museum of the 21st century, which I agree with you it is not the case today,\u201d Ms. des Cars said.<\/p>\n

Mr. Macron still exerts huge influence over the Louvre. He picked Mr. Leribault as the new president, much as he picked Ms. des Cars (and Mr. Leribault for his previous post as director of the museum at the Palace of Versailles).<\/p>\n

But with the end of Mr. Macron\u2019s term in sight, other politicians are maneuvering. France\u2019s culture minister, Rachida Dati, who also just resigned to run for mayor of Paris, issued a statement after Mr. Leribault\u2019s appointment was announced, taking credit for proposing him for the job.<\/p>\n

The ministry\u2019s statement said his priority would be \u201cto strengthen the safety and security of the building, the collections and the people, to restore a climate of trust and to carry out, with all the teams, the necessary transformations of the museum.\u201d<\/p>\n

While the statement referred to the \u201cLouvre \u2014 New Renaissance\u201d project, it pointedly warned that any work would have to be carried out \u201cin constant and attentive dialogue with the supervisory authority\u201d \u2014 in other words, the Culture Ministry.<\/p>\n

Beyond financial questions, there are aesthetic and cultural objections to the renovation project. Some critics complain that by relocating the Mona Lisa to its own room with dedicated access, the museum would encourage visitors to engage in a kind of artistic drive-by, stopping to take selfies in front of the painting while skipping the rest of the Louvre\u2019s treasures.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe create a kind of two-tier museum,\u201d said Julien Lacaze, the president of Sites & Monuments, a group that campaigns to protect France\u2019s architectural heritage. \u201cA museum for enthusiasts who will enjoy the other works, and a kind of fast-food museum where you see the Mona Lisa and take a picture.\u201d<\/p>\n

Where some defenders see in Mr. Macron a passionate steward of France\u2019s cultural heritage, others see a leader, in the twilight of his term, who is looking for ways to secure his place in the history books.<\/p>\n

Christian Galani, a spokesman for the C.G.T.-Culture labor union, which represents workers at the Louvre, said the project only existed so that Mr. Macron \u201ccan present himself as the savior of the Louvre.\u201d<\/p>\n

For Mr. Macron, the Louvre has long been laden with symbolism. He delivered his victory speech after his first presidential election in 2017 in front of the museum\u2019s pyramid entrance, designed by the Chinese-American architect, I.M. Pei.<\/p>\n

Now, Mr. Macron would like to end his presidency by bequeathing the public a monumental new entrance to the Louvre. Whether he succeeds in etching his name on that doorway may be out of his hands.<\/p>\n

Ana Castelain contributed reporting.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Laurence des Cars, who resigned this week as president of the Louvre Museum, is the most prominent casualty…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":53332,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[125],"tags":[7947,32728,32725,29353,242,245,32726,32727,32724,247,12377,6938,32722,32723],"class_list":{"0":"post-53331","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-emmanuel-macron","8":"tag-art","9":"tag-christophe","10":"tag-des-cars","11":"tag-emmanuel-1977","12":"tag-emmanuel-macron","13":"tag-france","14":"tag-laurence","15":"tag-leribault","16":"tag-louvre-museum","17":"tag-macron","18":"tag-museums","19":"tag-politics-and-government","20":"tag-restoration-and-renovation","21":"tag-robberies-and-thefts"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@people\/116502532197095341","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/people\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/53331","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/people\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/people\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/people\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/people\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=53331"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/people\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/53331\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/people\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/53332"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/people\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=53331"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/people\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=53331"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/people\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=53331"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}