The ‘Mona Lisa’ Is Getting Its Own Private Room at the Louvre

Ooh la la—the world’s most famous museum will soon be undergoing some massive changes.

The Louvre Museum in Paris will create a private exhibition space for the Mona Lisa, The New York Times reported on Tuesday. French President Emmanuel Macron announced the change during a press conference in front of the painting itself, adding that a few other renovations would be occurring in a bid to tamp down overcrowding.

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“Long live the Louvre’s new renaissance!” Macron exclaimed at the end of his speech.

The Louvre is the largest and busiest museum on the planet, the Times noted. It welcomes almost 9 million visitors every year, with daily attendance capped at 30,000 people. The entrance to the building—I. M. Pei’s Louvre Pyramid—was designed to accommodate just half of the visitors it currently does. To alleviate that issue, a new entrance will be created at the museum’s easternmost facade, Macron said.

The Mona Lisa is easily the most common reason people come to the Louvre, with estimates that 80 percent of the museum’s visitors are there to see Leonardo da Vinci’s portrait, The New York Times wrote. As such, the area around the painting is always crowded with people taking photos of La Gioconda and trying to work their way closer to the masterpiece. The new private room will hopefully make viewing the Mona Lisa easier and create more space in the part of the museum where it currently hangs.

Leonardo’s anonymous portrait is considered the most well-known painting in the world, in large part due to its history: The work was stolen from the Louvre back in 1911, and it remained out of the public eye for two years before the ringleader of the scheme was arrested. Even then, though, he served just eight months in prison. The Mona Lisa’s legacy has gone on for far longer.

While few other details of the Louvre’s new viewing room were shared, it may be a moment before the Mona Lisa is moved into its private space. And once she finally is, it’s likely that crowds will still swarm the relatively small painting. If you’re not up for the chaos, the Louvre has thankfully digitized its entire art collection, including the Mona Lisa, which you can access online for free. It’s no substitute for seeing the real thing, but you can be sure to avoid the masses that way.

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