Weeks After a Brazen Heist, the Louvre Increases Ticket Prices for Non-E.U. Visitors by 45 Percent
Officials say the fee hike will help fund a much-needed overhaul of the museum’s security systems and infrastructure
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It just got more expensive to see Liberty Leading the People and the Venus de Milo if you don’t have a European Union passport.
Starting on January 14, visitors to the Louvre in Paris from outside Europe will have to pay €32 ($37) per ticket, a 45 percent increase from the previous price of €22 ($25). The hike is expected to bring in millions of euros annually to help fund an overhaul of the museum’s security systems and aging infrastructure, which was deemed necessary following October’s brazen crown jewels heist.
The added revenue will be invested in “modernizing and upgrading the Louvre to address structural issues facing the museum,” a spokesperson tells CNN’s Jack Guy.
Guided groups will be charged a slightly lower €28 ($32.40) a person. Citizens of Iceland, Liechtenstein and Norway, countries that signed onto the European Economic Area agreement, will be exempted from the hike.
On October 19, thieves broke into the Louvre and stole eight French crown jewels worth more than $100 million. The theft took just a few minutes and occurred in broad daylight. Officials think they have apprehended the four men who conducted the heist, but the location of the jewels remains unknown.
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Following the heist, Louvre director Laurence des Cars, appearing before the French Senate’s Committee on Culture, acknowledged that the museum’s surveillance systems had severe shortcomings. A 2014 report revealing that the museum had used the password “LOUVRE” for its extensive CCTV camera network resurfaced amid security concerns.
Quick fact: How did the thieves break into the Louvre?
The robbers arrived in a truck with an attached ladder, which they used to climb to a second-floor window.
Although the heist shed light on the Louvre’s need for an expensive upgrade to its security system, talks of tiered ticketing had already been in the works. Rachida Dati, France’s culture minister, floated the idea in an interview with French newspaper Le Figaro’s Claire Bommelaer and Yves Thréard in October 2024.
French visitors shouldn’t have to pay the same entrance fees as visitors from other countries, Dati told the publication. She added that increasing prices for travelers from outside the E.U. would help pay for renovations.
In January, the Chateau de Chambord, one of the most popular and decadent chateaus in France’s Loire Valley, will be raising the price for non-E.U. residents from €20 to €30 ($23 to $35). These increases will help finance renovation work at the chateau.
“Australians, people from New Zealand, Americans, when they come to see Chambord, sometimes that’s once in a lifetime,” director Pierre Dubreuil tells the French radio station Ici Orléans, per a translation by the Associated Press’ Sylvie Corbet. “Paying €20 or €30 doesn’t change anything.”
Price hikes at other cultural institutions across France may follow, the AP reports. The Palace of Versailles, a UNESCO World Heritage Site, is considering a hike of €3 ($3.50) for non-E.U. visitors.
The Louvre is poised to make millions off of its price hike. Nearly nine million people—most of them international travelers—visited the Louvre last year. More than 10 percent of visitors are from the United States, while around 6 percent are from China, BBC News’ Osmond Chia reports.