Louvre Names STUDIOS Architecture to Lead $778 Million Overhaul
The Louvre has chosen the Paris office of STUDIOS Architecture to lead a sweeping renovation that will reshape how visitors move through the museum — and how they encounter its most famous painting. The project calls for new galleries, a new lobby, a second public entrance, and a 33,000-square-foot exhibition space for the Mona Lisa.
The selection closes a competition that began in early 2025 and drew more than 100 entrants. French President Emmanuel Macron announced the redesign alongside Laurence des Cars, then the museum’s leader, as part of a $778 million plan he has called the “New Louvre Renaissance.” The process later slowed amid staff unrest and the continuing fallout from last fall’s theft of more than $100 million in French crown jewels, which disappeared in under eight minutes.
The security breach intensified scrutiny of the museum’s infrastructure. A French government commission last week accused the Louvre of prioritizing “prestige and influence” over security, citing testimony from more than 100 industry professionals and local officials who had warned about vulnerabilities before the theft. Des Cars resigned in February and was succeeded by Christophe Leribault.
The renovation is also meant to address a more ordinary but persistent problem: overcrowding. The Louvre receives about 9 million visitors a year, and the new plan includes a second public entrance designed to ease pressure on the building’s most congested routes. The museum says the dedicated Mona Lisa gallery will allow visitors to see the work without crossing the rest of the institution, and to “discover and contemplate it in satisfactory conditions.”
The project will also highlight the historic Colonnade and its esplanade in what the museum described as a “new and vegetated composition.” In January, the Louvre’s 2026 budget set aside $116 million for preliminary studies, $17.5 million for technical maintenance, and $2.1 million for artwork safety.
The renovation has already become a test case for how a major museum balances spectacle, security, and basic upkeep. With STUDIOS Architecture now selected, the Louvre is moving into the next phase of a transformation that will be judged not only by its architecture, but by whether it can restore confidence in the institution itself.
