This archive report was first published on 6 July 2020.
The Louvre in Paris, the world's most visited museum, reopened on July 6, 2020, after a 16-week coronavirus closure.
Visitors were restricted to 500 per half hour, and face masks were compulsory, as the museum sought to reduce contact between people and lower coronavirus transmission risk.
The museum's most popular draws, including the Mona Lisa, the Venus de Milo, and the Louvre's vast antiquities collection, were accessible, but galleries in which social distancing was more difficult remained off-limits.
With tourism still at a standstill, the Louvre will seek to attract more French visitors in the coming months.
“We are losing 80 percent of our public,” said museum director Jean-Luc Martinez, who expects tough months and years ahead.
The museum will not get anywhere near the 9.6 million visitors it hosted last year, down from a record 10 million in 2018.
AFP / FRANCOIS GUILLOT
