Employees say a series of recent high-profile incidents have highlighted how short staffed and badly managed the museum is. The strike left visitors to the famous Parisian museum disappointed.
Thousands of disappointed visitors were turned away from Paris’ famed Louvre museum on Monday.
“Due to a strike, the museum won’t be able to open today,” read a notice placed outside the entrance.
This prompted dozens of celebrating union members to shout: “We won! We won!”
Why are Louvre workers striking?
The workers’ union says that a recent high-profile heist at France’s most visited museum has highlighted long-simmering reasons for employee discontent. Namely, mismanagement and a refusal to hire enough staff that a museum of the Louvre’s size requires.
The strike reportedly has broad support among the 2,200-strong staff of security guards, cashiers, and researchers.
Alongside the robbery of $102 million (€88 million) in jewels from the Apollo Gallery, two other recent incidents made it clear how much the building has fallen into disrepair.
In October, a gallery of ancient Greek ceramics had to be closed because its ceiling beams were threatening to collapse. A month later, hundreds of books and manuscripts in the Egyptian department were badly damaged due to a water leak.
The museum’s lead architect Francois Chatillon admitted in a parliamentary inquiry last month that the building “is not in good shape.”
What were people saying outside the Louvre?
“We’re angry,” Elise Muller, a security guard, told reporters. “We disagree with the way the Louvre has been managed.”
Some of the disappointed tourists expressed dismay to French news agency AFP that a museum that welcomes tens of millions of visitors every year could be struggling so badly for funds to pay more employees.
“I’m very disappointed, because the Louvre was the main reason for our visit, because we wanted to see the Mona Lisa,” one South Korean tourist told AFP.
Edited by: Wesley Dockery
DW News
