The reopening of the Louvre, almost three months closed due to the Covid-19 epidemic, is also a unique opportunity to admire the Mona Lisa without the crowds of the big days, while waiting for visitors to return. strangers.
In the queue, a few dozen tourists were waiting for the doors to open at 9:00 a.m. Visiting slots for 500 people have been set up every half hour to comply with health rules.
"I am very, very happy to welcome visitors, a museum, it is made first of all to welcome visitors, we have dedicated our life to art and we would like to share this passion, here we are!" "Welcomed Jean-Luc Martinez, its president and director.
"Today 7,000 people have reserved, usually we welcome 30,000 people," says Martinez, while the museum, which lost more than € 40 million in revenue during confinement, is deprived of the usual crowds American, Chinese, Korean, Japanese, Brazilian tourists…
75% of the museum's public is usually made up of foreigners. But for now only Europeans from nearby countries can start to return.
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The museum had never closed for so long since the Second World War.