The Louvre will raise ticket prices for visitors from outside Europe by 45% next year, lifting the standard adult admission from 22 euros to 32 euros ($25 to $37) to help fund an 800 million-euro renovation of the aging museum.
The increase, approved by the museum’s board on Thursday, takes effect January 14 and applies only to non-EU residents. Residents of three European Economic Area countries — Iceland, Liechtenstein, and Norway — are exempted from the price hike. EU citizens and residents will continue to pay the current rate.
A Louvre spokesperson said the surcharge is expected to generate an additional 15 to 20 million euros a year, which will go toward the decade-long “Louvre New Renaissance” modernization plan, including new infrastructure, improved crowd management, and a dedicated gallery for the Mona Lisa by 2031.
The decision follows an October 19 daylight robbery in which thieves used a freight lift and power tools to steal crown jewels valued at 88 million euros from the Apollo Gallery in under eight minutes. The brazen heist exposed security gaps in the former royal palace, whose last major overhaul dates to the 1980s.
Louvre director Laurence des Cars has already launched more than 20 emergency security measures. A November report from France’s Court of Accounts called the theft a “deafening alarm signal” and criticized museum leadership for prioritizing high-profile projects over basic protection, CNN reported.
President Emmanuel Macron first floated the non-EU surcharge earlier this year, months before the robbery, as part of broader financing for the renovation. Similar higher fees for non-European visitors will also apply at the Palace of Versailles, Sainte-Chapelle, and Château de Chambord.
Last year, the Louvre drew 8.7 million visitors, 77 percent of whom were from abroad. Americans made up the largest foreign contingent at 13 percent, followed by Chinese and British tourists.
On Tuesday, Paris prosecutors announced four additional arrests in the jewels investigation, bringing the total number of suspects in custody to at least six.