PARIS — The Louvre, the world’s most-visited museum and home to Leonardo da Vinci’s Mona Lisa, has requested urgent help from the French government to restore and renovate its ageing exhibition halls and better protect its countless works of art.

In a letter to Culture Minister Rachida Dati, revealed by Paris daily Le Parisien and confirmed to Reuters by the Louvre, Louvre President Laurence des Cars warned that the centuries-old building is in a dire state, and pointed at problems with water leaks and “worrying temperature swings which endanger the conservation of works of art.”

Built in Paris in the late 12^th century, the Louvre Palace for centuries was the official residence of the kings of France, until Louis XIV — weary of rebellious crowds in Paris — abandoned it for Versailles, after which it became a museum for the royal art collection in 1793.

Last year, the Louvre welcomed 8.7 million visitors, who all entered via the pyramid-shaped western entrance, designed by architect I.M. Pei, which itself has become problematic as its greenhouse effect makes the Louvre’s subterranean reception uncomfortably hot on summer days.

A visit to the Louvre, the museum’s head wrote, has become “a physical ordeal,” with artworks being hard to find due to inadequate signage, lack of space for visitors to take a break, and insufficient food and sanitary facilities.

Designed to receive four million visitors a year, the Louvre saw record attendance of 10.2 million visitors in 2018, but Des Cars — who was appointed in 2021 — has imposed a limit of 30,000 visitors per day in order to avoid overcrowding.

Des Cars’ letter did not mention financing, but French TV news channel BFM said renovation costs could amount to €500 million ($520 million), which would be a challenge for President Emmanuel Macron’s government which has struggled to gets its 2025 budget approved by parliament.

Le Parisien reported that talks are under way between Mr. Macron’s office, the culture ministry, and the Louvre. A source close to Macron’s office confirmed that “the president has followed this issue with attention for several months.”

The culture ministry did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

After his first election in 2017, Mr. Macron gave his victory speech in front of the Louvre, while the Tuileries gardens around the former palace also played a prominent role during the 2024 Paris Olympics.

Besides a top-to-bottom renovation, the museum is also considering building a new wing for the Mona Lisa, as well as a new entrance on the eastern end of the museum, to relieve congestion at the Pyramid entrance. — Reuters

AS the Los Angeles area begins the formidable task of rebuilding after the most destructive wildfires in its history, the city’s artists and art collectors are mourning what could amount to billions of dollars in irreplaceable art that went up in flames.

The wildfires have altogether destroyed more than 13,000 structures, with many among those located in the affluent Palisades neighborhood — home to many priceless art collections — and the town of Altadena, which was home to a flourishing artist community.

Some of those art collectors likely lost many of their acquisitions as the fires burned out of control for weeks, while local artists have watched as their studios and homes burned, destroying their work and jeopardizing their livelihoods.

“There’s part of me that’s numb or in shock,” said Brad Eberhard, an artist who ran Altadena’s Alto Beta gallery, which also housed his own studio. Both burned down in the Eaton Fire. “Every half hour I remember another thing gone.”

Alto Beta, a 51-sq-meter space in an Altadena shopping center, hosted exhibits focused on artists who had not had a showing in Los Angeles in the past three years.

Mr. Eberhard lost between 50 and 70 of his own sculptures as well as about two dozen pieces of art from his friends and colleagues.

When he returned to visit the gallery, “all I recognized was an aluminum door frame,” he said.

Just days before the gallery burned down, Alto Beta had opened a show called Quiver exhibiting paintings from Mary Anna Pomonis, a Los Angeles-based artist. Ms. Pomonis described the work in the show as female-centered paintings rooted in devotional imagery.

“It felt like it was an appropriately dramatic response to work that I felt dealt on that scale of an epic narrative,” she said.

Many in the Los Angeles area have heard the fates of their homes but have been unable to return to see what’s left, as tens of thousands of Angelenos remain under evacuation orders.

Kim McCarty, a watercolor painter and owner of the Michael’s Santa Monica restaurant with her husband, lost her home to the Palisades fire. Like many, she has not been able to return to assess the damage in person.

Through their restaurant, which opened in 1979, the McCartys became acquainted with local artists and housed many pieces in their Malibu home from friends such as Roger Herman, a German-born artist who teaches at the University of California, Los Angeles, and Pippa Garner, an American artist who died in Los Angeles in December.

“(I’m) sad to lose that all because it’s such a loving thing,” said Ms. McCarty, who added she was not able to salvage any of her own artwork before she was forced to evacuate.

Experts have estimated that the LA wildfires could be the most expensive disaster in US history. AccuWeather has estimated at least $250 billion in losses due to the fires, although that figure could still change.

It is too early to estimate much of the losses that are art-related, but there were perhaps “billions” of dollars worth of fine art in properties in affected areas, said Christopher Wise, vice-president at Risk Strategies, an insurance broker and risk management consultancy.

“If you take a look at the size of the areas that are under threat or have burned, the scale of it really is staggering,” he said.

Still, Mr. Wise cautioned that the amount of losses remains unclear, as many collectors have yet to return to their homes.

Despite the uncertainty created by the wildfires, the organizers of Frieze Los Angeles made the decision last week to go ahead with the international art fair, scheduled for late February.

Frieze, which also holds annual fairs in London, New York, and Seoul, has presented the Los Angeles edition since 2019, elevating the city’s status as an art capital. The fair attracts galleries and collectors from around the world, especially those from the US West Coast.

“Since the fair’s founding six years ago, Frieze has been proud to support and be part of this vibrant community,” said a Frieze spokesperson. “The challenges the city is currently facing only strengthen our commitment to work alongside the community to rebuild and recover together.”

Frieze Los Angeles, in conjunction with several smaller art fairs, aims to send a message to the local art community by going forward despite the fires, said Marc Selwyn, the owner of Marc Selwyn Fine Art in Los Angeles.

“I think it’s important that people know that LA is open for business and art is something that can be a boost for people in these kinds of times,” the gallery owner said.

The world-famous Getty Museum, which survived the fires, led several major art organizations in standing up a $12 million LA Arts Community Fire Relief Fund, which is set to provide emergency relief to artists and others who work in the arts.

If there is a silver lining to be found in the disaster it may lie in how the Los Angeles artistic community has pulled together to help one another, said Mr. Eberhard. He has already been able to find homes in other galleries for most of the shows that Alto Beta was set to exhibit this year.

“I didn’t know that the artist community was this caring. I really didn’t, because artists are notoriously, and accurately, independent, self-reliant, like little islands,” he said. — Reuters

THE Philippines launched a comic book on Friday in its fight against what it called distorted narratives about maritime rights in the West Philippine Sea, a disputed area in the South China Sea, a move which drew criticism from China.

The 40-page comic book titled The Stories of Teacher Jun follows Teacher Jun and his students as they learn about maritime zones, international laws, and the need to safeguard Philippine marine resources.

National Security Adviser Eduardo Año said the comic book complemented government efforts to expose China’s “aggression” in the South China Sea, serving as a tool to educate Filipinos about complex maritime issues and their sovereign rights under international law.

Philippine Coast Guard Chief Ronnie Gavan said he hoped the book would inspire young Filipinos “to protect what is rightfully ours.”

The Chinese Embassy in Manila criticized the initiative, describing it as “political manipulation.”

One of the six chapters of the comic book highlighted the significance of the landmark 2016 ruling by the Permanent Court of Arbitration in favor of the Philippines which invalidated China’s sweeping claim of sovereignty over most of the South China Sea.

China rejects the ruling and has doubled down on its efforts to assert its sovereignty claim with an armada of coast guard and fishing militia, hundreds of kilometers off its mainland.

“Chinese officials, along with state-sponsored media and individuals, continue to spread distorted and twisted narratives to malign our efforts and justify their unilateral claims,” Mr. Año said. — Reuters