Staff at the Louvre museum in Paris have voted unanimously for strike action in protest at their working conditions.

The decision was taken following a general meeting called by an inter-union group on Monday 5 January, according to the CFDT and CGT trade unions.

Museum management has said that the museum will be partially open with certain works, such as the Mona Lisa, the Venus de Milo and the Victory of Samothrace, all available to be seen by the public.

Initially launched on 15 December, the action was suspended four days later. At the time, the CGT-CFDT-SUD joint union had called for a new meeting this year with staff to decide how to continue the movement, in the absence of “sufficient progress” in negotiations with the Ministry of Culture.

In particular, the Ministry promised to cancel the 5.7 million euro cut in public funding for the Louvre. It has also announced recruitment and pay rises, although these are still deemed insufficient by the unions.

The industrial action is protesting against understaffing, particularly in the surveillance of the galleries, against the forthcoming 45% price increase for non-European tourists, and against the deterioration of the building, highlighted by the spectacular burglary of the Crown Jewels on 19 October.

An estimated 9 million people visited the world’s most visited museum in 2025, up slightly on 2024 (8.7 million). The Louvre had seen a slight drop in visitor numbers in the summer of 2024, due to the Olympic and Paralympic Games.