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SALT LAKE CITY — The "Mona Lisa" always attracts a crowd. In fact, it takes sharp elbows to work your way through the selfie-grabbing throng to catch a glimpse of Leonardo da Vinci's masterpiece on a busy day at the Louvre.
But now, "Mona Lisa" might be taking her smile underground.
According to a report this past week in the French newspaper Le Figaro, renovation plans at the museum involve moving the relatively small 30-inch-by-20-inch painting into a separate room below ground.
In an interview with French broadcaster France Inter, the Louvre's director, Laurence des Cars, said the institution is looking at upgrading both the conditions surrounding the iconic painting, as well as the overall visitor experience, per NPR.
"I place it at the heart of my mission as the director to better welcome the public. And it's always frustrating when our visitor experience is not quite up to par — as is the case, obviously, with the Mona Lisa," des Cars told France Inter last Friday. "So in collaboration with the Ministry of Culture, we are thinking about making necessary improvements."
The proposed upgrades, according to Le Figaro, would create two subterranean entry points for visitors: one for the "Mona Lisa" and the other for temporary exhibitions. The estimated renovation budget cost is about $535 million, NPR reported.
How much is the 'Mona Lisa' worth?
The "Mona Lisa" is the museum's biggest attraction, drawing 20,000 to 30,000 visitors a day. About 8 million to 10 million people visit the Louvre each year, making it the world's most visited museum. But, per NPR, many visitors complain about waiting in line for hours, the stuffy conditions and only getting to spend a few seconds viewing the painting, which is housed behind a climate-controlled case made of bulletproof glass.
In February, CouponBirds scraped more than 18,000 online reviews that mention 100 of the world's most famous artworks and the museums that house them to find out which experiences were most and least disappointing. Nearly 4 in 10 deemed the "Mona Lisa" the "world's most disappointing masterpiece," nearly doubling the average negative review for other works. Many reviewers mentioned the crowds.
The "Mona Lisa" is one of the most highly valued paintings in the world.
Painted sometime between 1503 and 1519, the Louvre has housed the painting since 1804. The "Mona Lisa" belongs to the French people by law, which would make it extremely difficult for it to ever be sold, according to The Collector. When the painting was insured in 1962, its value was placed at $100 million. Recent estimates, considering inflation, suggest the "Mona Lisa" would be worth over $834 million today.
The "Mona Lisa" has been the target of vandalism over the years. In January, climate food security activists sprayed pumpkin soup on the glass case but the painting was not damaged. In 2022, environmental activists smeared cake on the glass while shouting "Think of the Earth."
