Louvre closes as staff strike over overcrowding and understaffing

In Paris, the full Louvre museum might reopen as normal on Wednesday, and some tourists with time-sensitive tickets for Monday may be allowed to reuse them then. On Tuesday the Louvre is closed. Photo: AP

The Louvre, the world’s most-visited museum and a global symbol of art, beauty and endurance, has withstood war, terror, and pandemic - but on Monday, it was brought to a halt by its own striking staff, who say the institution is crumbling under the weight of mass tourism.

It was an almost unthinkable sight: the home to works by Leonardo da Vinci and millennia of civilisation’s greatest treasures - paralysed by the very people tasked with welcoming the world to its galleries.