The museum hopes to attract more French visitors to fill the gap as it embarks on a campaign to shake off its elitist image.
File: The Louvre, which houses the Mona Lisa by Leonardo da Vinci, is the most visited museum in the world.PARIS - The Louvre, the world's most visited museum, reopens after its coronavirus closure Monday, but with nearly a third of its galleries still shut.
Although most of the museum's most popular draws, like the"Mona Lisa" and its vast antiquities collection, will be accessible, other galleries where social distancing is more difficult will remain closed.Nor will there be any crowding in front of Leonardo da Vinci's masterpiece for a selfie, with visitors warned that they will have to stick to standing on well-distanced spots marked on the floor.
Some 70 percent of the Louvre's 9.6 million visitors last year were from overseas, and with tourism at a standstill, Martinez told AFP that numbers could drop sharply."We are going to be at best 20 to 30 percent down on last summer -- between 4,000 and 10,000 visitors a day," he estimated.The museum hopes to attract more French visitors to fill the gap as it embarks on a campaign to shake off its elitist image before the Paris Olympics in four years' time.
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