Water Leak at Louvre Museum Damages Hundreds of Books
Unionized staff at the Paris institution pledged to strike if working conditions do not improve as tumult at the museum continues.
It seems like the only way the Musée du Louvre can catch a break these days is through its pipes, after a water leak that damaged hundreds of books on-site came to light this weekend.
Following the revelation of water damage underscoring the urgent need for the museum's renovation, three culture unions representing staff at the Louvre issued a joint notice today warning of a rolling strike beginning Monday, December 15.
A spokesperson for the Louvre declined to comment on the strike notice in an email to Hyperallergic.
Though the damages occurred on November 26, reports of the water leak affecting between 300 and 400 books in the library within the museum's Egyptian Antiquities department emerged last weekend, with Francis Steinbock, deputy director general of the museum, stating that “no patrimony works” had been damaged.
With all eyes on the Louvre after the brazen daytime theft of the nation's crown jewels in October, the pipe burst came only 10 days after a temporary closure of a Greek Ceramics gallery due to structural concerns about the ceiling, further affirming Louvre Director Laurence des Cars's written warnings about the museum's dilapidation in a leaked memo to the Ministry of Culture in January.
Des Cars's alarms led to the development of the museum's multi-step overhaul plan, known as “Nouvelle Renaissance,” to remediate the Louvre's structural problems, pinch points affecting visitor experience, and security oversights over the next decade. Visitors from outside the European Economic Area will see a 45% entry fee increase as of January 2026 to help fund the renovations.
The Syndicat National des Musées et Domaines-Confédération Générale du Travail union called the updated price “particularly criminal since it deviates from the principle of equality between users of the public service,” and the Confédération Française Démocratique du Travail unit described it as "absurd and unjust," arguing that “people from the Middle East will pay a higher price [than French visitors] to access foundational and symbolic works of their own culture.”
Both labor unions, in partnership with a third union called Solidaires Unitaires Démocratiques, filed a notice with the French Minister of Culture today, December 8, warning of a rolling strike effective next Monday onwards if various demands aren't met. The three units called for the abandonment of the forthcoming fee hike and demanded that the funds from Abu Dhabi's licensing of the Louvre brand be used for renovations, rather than for the construction of a new visitor entry area in the museum.
The joint notice also highlighted long-held complaints of overworked and understaffed teams in front-facing roles that culminated in an impromptu labor strike in June.
The unions issued demands for more positions in surveillance and reception, an emphasis on incorporating staff's on-the-ground knowledge of the museum's operations and problems in upper-level decision making, and the “reduction in workload which undermines all departments of the institution,” among other highlighted protections for employees.
Hyperallergic has reached out to the three unions for comment.
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