You're Going to Need a Reservation if You Want to See the Mona Lisa This Autumn
If you want to catch a glimpse of the Mona Lisa in Paris this fall, you better book your reservations in June.
The Louvre is making reservations mandatory for the museum's upcoming exhibition commemorating the 500th anniversary of Leonardo da Vinci's death.
In addition to the Mona Lisa, which hangs year-round at the Louvre, the exhibition will feature 14 to 17 paintings specialists have recently attributed to Da Vinci as well as the latest research findings, editions of key documents, results of the recent analysis carried out by the Louvre's laboratories and show new treatments of three paintings.
The five large paintings by da Vinci already held at the museum will be there, too. These works include: Portrait of an Unknown Woman (also called La belle ferronnière), The Virgin and the Child with St. Anne, Virgin of the Rocks, St. John the Baptist, Bachhus, and of course, the Mona Lisa.
The exhibit opens to the public on Oct. 24, but tickets will go on sale for specific time slots through the Louvre's online booking service on June 18. Adult tickets will cost 17 euros ($19.)
Tickets will be sold for 30-minute time slots to ease congestion in the exhibit. These reservations will be obligatory for all guests, including the 40% of visitors who attend the museum for free, according to Lonely Planet.
The Louvre saw its busiest year ever in 2018 with 10.2 million visitors — an influx of guests some attribute to the Beyoncé and Jay-Z music video "Apesh*t", which took place in the museum. In an interview with the news outlet Agence France-Presse, Louvre President Jean-Luc Martinez said that the new time controls were a necessity. "We must stop judging the success of an exhibition by the number of hours waiting outdoors," he said. "What's important to me is to improve the encounter with the works of Leonardo."
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