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Art lovers from the UK, US and China hoping to admire the Mona Lisa’s enigmatic smile will have to shell out an extra €10 to do so next year.
The Louvre has decided to increase the price of admission for non-European visitors by 45% starting in 2026. From 14 January, nationals from outside the European Economic Area (EEA, which includes EU member states, Iceland, Liechtenstein and Norway) will have to pay €32 to visit the world’s most visited museum – €10 more than the current admission price.
Approved on Thursday by the Louvre’s board of directors, this increase will apply in particular to Americans, who make up the largest contingent of foreign visitors, but also to Chinese visitors, who rank third, according to the museum’s 2024 activity report.
The Louvre welcomed 8.7 million people last year, 69% of whom were from abroad.
The price rise aims to raise up to €20 million a year to tackle “structural problems” and fund an overhaul of the world’s most-visited art museum, which is still reeling from the daylight theft of priceless treasures last month.
On 19 October, a four-person gang raided the Louvre, taking just seven minutes to steal jewelry worth an estimated €88 million before fleeing on scooters. An official investigation indicated that security systems were inadequate, and that the museum had spent significantly more on buying new artworks but much less on maintenance and restoration.
This price hike has been denounced by labour unions, which criticized the decision to scrap the universal entry fee for all nationalities. The CFDT, the largest national trade union federation in France, warned it would be perceived as “discrimination.”
Other major French tourist attractions could soon follow suit. According to France’s Minister of Culture Rachida Dati, a differentiated pricing structure will be in place in 2026 for “all national cultural operators”.
The Palace of Versailles indicated that it is aslo considering increasing the price of individual visits by €3 for residents outside the EEA. However, this price hike has not yet been approved by the board of directors.