An international team of architects has been announced to advance the Louvre’s “Nouvelle Renaissance” expansion. The project is estimated to cost more than €1 billion and aims to address crumbling infrastructure, overcrowding, and insufficient security. It includes an additional entrance intended to increase visitors by three million annually and a dedicated 33,000-square-foot exhibition space for the Mona Lisa. The museum’s new director confirmed plans to proceed, while the project’s budget remains uncertain due to major differences between earlier estimates and projections by France’s national auditing authority, as well as higher figures attributed to Macron’s aides. The director described the project as crucial and necessary, with only limited cost reductions expected.
"New York's Selldorf Architects will team up with Studios Architecture Paris to see through the project, which has been dubbed the “Nouvelle Renaissance.” Estimated to cost in excess of €1 billion ($1.2 billion), it is intended to address a host of problems facing the embattled museum, including crumbling infrastructure, overcrowding, and insufficient security. Still, the project's budget remains uncertain as the Louvre must either overcome a significant funding shortfall or reassess its ambitions."
"First announced by French president Emmanuel Macron at the start of 2025, the Nouvelle Renaissance will include an additional entrance, which should increase visitors numbers by three million each year, and a dedicated, 33,000-square-foot exhibition space for the Louvre's star attraction, Leonardo da Vinci's Mona Lisa. The museum's new director Christophe Leribault has confirmed plans to go ahead with the project, which was originally formulated by his predecessor Laurence des Cars, who stepped down earlier this year."
"The cost of the Nouvelle Renaissance initiative remains uncertain, owing to the discrepancy in des Cars's estimate of around €270 million ($315 million) and that of France's national auditing authority, which has instead projected €1.1 billion ($1.3 billion). Macron's aides also generated an estimated cost of up to €800 million ($932 million)."
"Regardless, speaking to , Leribault described the project as “crucial and necessary.” He said that while some money-saving adjustments will likely be made, “the cost cannot be reduced” substantially. Though critics of the Nouvelle Renaissance accuse it of prioritizing showy features over necessary building maintenance work, the project has been a ray of hope for the Louvre as it faced an onslaught of embarrassing setba"
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