The Mona Lisa at the Louvre: Tickets, Guided Tours, How to See Her Without the Line, and the Full History

The Mona Lisa (La Joconde, as the French call her) became a global icon the day she disappeared from the wall. In August 1911 she was stolen from the Louvre, and in the days after the theft was discovered, crowds of the curious flocked to the museum to stare at the empty space where she had hung (yes, people stood in line to look at hooks on a wall). More than a century later, a large share of Louvre visitors still look for her first, and many of them find themselves facing a painting much smaller than they imagined, behind a bulletproof glass case.

In my main article on the Louvre Museum, I wrote that the line in the Mona Lisa’s room is maybe the least enjoyable attraction in Paris, and I still stand behind that sentence. But that’s no reason to skip her. Anyone who arrives at the right time with the right ticket can stand in front of her in peace, and anyone who knows her story suddenly understands why a portrait of a silk merchant’s wife from Florence (Firenze) draws thousands of people a day.

So before we head off to visit the Mona Lisa, let’s talk about what you’ll find in this article. The first section covers all the practical information: exactly where she hangs, how to get there, which tickets and tours to book, and how to shorten the line in front of her. After that, what else to see in her room and around it, and then the full history of the painting, from Leonardo’s workshop in Florence to the Italian glazier who hid it under his bed for two years. At the end you’ll find three hotels near the Louvre and answers to frequently asked questions about the painting.

Practical information: how to get to the Mona Lisa, which tickets to buy, and how to shorten the line

Where exactly does the Mona Lisa hang?

The Mona Lisa hangs in the Salle des États, room 711 in the Denon Wing, on Level 1 of the Louvre. According to the Louvre itself, it’s the largest room in the palace, and it was chosen for exactly that reason: so that as many people as possible could see her. From the entrance under the pyramid, head to the Denon Wing and go up one floor, and from there signs lead you to the room (and if you missed a sign, just follow the crowd).

The painting hangs alone on a dedicated wall in the middle of the room, behind bulletproof glass and a railing, and on the wall facing it stretches the enormous “The Wedding at Cana” by Veronese.

Worth knowing: this address is temporary. The Louvre plans to move the Mona Lisa to a new room of her own, to be built beneath the Cour Carrée and connected to a new entrance on the colonnade side, with the opening planned for 2031.

How to get to the Louvre, and which entrance to use

The easiest way is the metro: lines 1 and 7 stop at Palais-Royal / Musée du Louvre, and line 14 stops at Pyramides. Bus lines 21, 27, 39, 67, 68, 69, 72, 74, 85 and 95 also reach the Louvre, and the Batobus, the Seine’s hop-on hop-off boat shuttle, stops at Quai François-Mitterrand.

The Louvre has four entrances, and each one has its own rules:

• The Pyramid: the main entrance, with three lines. The green line is for anyone holding a ticket or a museum pass (Paris Museum Pass), the orange one is for those without a ticket, and the blue one is for people with disabilities and staff.
• Carrousel: at 99 rue de Rivoli, through the underground shopping mall. Open to groups, pass holders and anyone with a ticket.
• Porte des Lions: on the Seine side, in the south wing where the Mona Lisa hangs. You can only enter here with a ticket; it closes every day at 6:00 p.m. (last entry 5:00 p.m.) and is closed on Tuesdays.
• Passage Richelieu: reserved for groups of up to 6 people with a booking and a licensed guide, and for pass holders. It closes at 5:30 p.m., and at 7:30 p.m. on Wednesdays and Fridays.

You can read about the pros and cons of each entrance in the article on the Louvre Museum.

Opening hours and tickets

The Louvre is open Mondays, Thursdays, Saturdays and Sundays from 9:00 a.m. to 6:00 p.m., and on Wednesdays and Fridays from 9:00 a.m. to 9:00 p.m. It’s closed on Tuesdays (a mistake quite a few travelers repeat). The last entry is an hour before closing, and guards start clearing the rooms half an hour before closing time, so anyone entering at 5:00 p.m. on a regular day should head straight for the Mona Lisa.

The museum is closed on January 1, May 1 and December 25, and open on other holidays unless they fall on a Tuesday. On the first Friday of every month after 6:00 p.m. (except July and August), and on July 14, admission is free for everyone.

Since January 14, 2026, the price of a Louvre ticket depends on where you’re coming from. Citizens and residents of the European Economic Area pay 22 euros, and everyone else pays starting at 32 euros (depending on the type of ticket and whether it includes a guided tour). Visitors under 18 get in free, as do citizens and residents of the European Economic Area up to age 26. The ticket includes the permanent collections, the temporary exhibitions, and admission to the Musée national Eugène-Delacroix on the same day or the next.

There’s no separate ticket for the Mona Lisa, and a regular admission ticket gets you into her room. It’s well worth booking your ticket in advance with a fixed entry time: the Louvre caps the number of visitors at 30,000 a day, and the ticket counters only sell tickets when the museum isn’t full. The Louvre also warns about websites posing as the official site and about street ticket sellers, so buy only through the official website or a recognized platform.

I highly recommend booking a ticket in advance through this link.

If you’re also planning to visit the Eiffel Tower on the same trip, there are packages that combine a reserved Louvre entry with an Eiffel Tower ticket in a single booking. These are the two attractions that are hardest to get last-minute tickets for.

A guided tour or host-escorted entry that takes you straight to the Mona Lisa

If this is your first visit to the Louvre, a guided tour saves you two headaches at once: the entry line and navigating a museum that’s very easy to get lost in. The tour featured in the article on the Louvre runs about two to two and a half hours, and the entry ticket with a fixed time is included in the price. The guide meets the group outside the museum, and inside, the route passes the Greek and Roman antiquities (the Venus de Milo and the Winged Victory of Samothrace), continues to the Mona Lisa and ends in the French painting galleries. You can choose a group of up to 20 participants, a small group of 6, or a private tour, with guiding in English or Spanish, and free cancellation up to 24 hours in advance.

Find me a guided tour to the Mona Lisa

For those who don’t want a full two-hour tour, there’s a middle option: an entry ticket with a host who meets you near the Louvre, enters with you, and escorts you to the Mona Lisa. This isn’t a guided tour. After the Mona Lisa, you continue on your own, at your own pace, and it’s especially useful for anyone who already knows what they want to see afterward and just doesn’t want to waste the morning finding their way around.

Find me host-escorted entry to the Mona Lisa

How to beat the line in front of the Mona Lisa, how long it takes, and when to come

Let’s be honest: no ticket makes the line inside the room disappear. Guided tours and host-escorted entries save you the Louvre’s entry line and the wandering around, but in front of the painting itself, everyone goes through the same system. When the room is busy, two snaking lines form in the middle, and museum staff hold back the waiting crowd until whoever is standing in front of the painting steps aside. Since the room’s 2019 renovation, there’s also a separate line for children and visitors with mobility disabilities that leads straight to the painting (a tip worth its weight in gold for families).

What actually works is timing:

• Be there at opening time. Book a ticket for 9:00 a.m., and the moment you clear security, head straight to the Denon Wing, before anything else. You’ll see the Venus de Milo later anyway; she’s not going anywhere.
• Take advantage of the evenings. On Wednesdays and Fridays, the Louvre is open until 9:00 p.m., and the crowds thin out in the evening hours.
• Avoid midday. The museum’s busiest hours are between 11:00 a.m. and 3:00 p.m.
• Make use of the wait. While you’re in line, turn around and look at “The Wedding at Cana” on the opposite wall. It has 132 figures, more than enough to fill your waiting time.
• Decide in advance what you want. You only get a short moment in front of the painting, and the guards keep the line moving, so it’s worth deciding ahead of time between a photo or a moment of quiet.

You can see the Mona Lisa on a short visit, but it would be a shame to come to the Louvre just for her. Set aside at least half a day for the museum, and put your meeting with her at the start of it, at opening time, or in the evening on a Wednesday or Friday. If you’re planning a full Paris trip, the itinerary builder will slot the Louvre into a day that fits the rest of your plans.

What not to miss in the Mona Lisa’s room

The Mona Lisa herself: what to look at

The first thing you’ll notice is the size: 31.25 x 21 inches, oil paint on a thin panel of poplar wood. Leonardo chose a relatively large panel so he could paint Lisa at life size, and the panel has never been cut down, whatever you might hear otherwise.

Look closely at the smile, and how it was created. Leonardo built up the face with extremely thin, almost transparent layers of paint that blur the outlines and create a soft transition between light and shadow. The technique is called sfumato, from the word for “smoke,” and it lets him hint at what Lisa is feeling without ever revealing why.

Behind Lisa stretches a mountainous landscape with rivers: a winding path on the left, and a bridge over the river on the right. In the bottom right corner you can make out that part of the ground was left at a sketch-like stage, since Leonardo never finished the painting before his death.

Look for the damage too. An 11-centimeter crack runs down from the top edge of the panel, crosses through the hair, and stops, almost miraculously, at the forehead. Layers of varnish added after Leonardo’s death have yellowed over the centuries and now act like a yellow filter: they darken the lower part of the painting and turn the blue sky greenish (yes, Leonardo’s sky was blue).

“The Wedding at Cana,” Titian and more Leonardo: what else is nearby

Facing the Mona Lisa hangs “The Wedding at Cana” (Les Noces de Cana) by Veronese (Paolo Caliari, dit Veronese, 1528-1588), 22 feet 2 inches tall and 32 feet 7 inches wide, with 132 life-size figures. The Benedictine monks of the San Giorgio Maggiore monastery in Venice (Venezia) commissioned it in 1562 for their dining hall. In 1797 Napoleon’s army seized it, rolled it up, and brought it to Paris. Remember that detail, because as you’ll see, it comes back in the story of the 1911 theft.

In the Salle des États hangs a large collection of 16th-century Venetian painting, including several works by Titian (Tiziano Vecellio, died 1576): “The Crowning with Thorns” (Le Couronnement d’épines), “The Man with a Glove” (L’Homme au gant), and “The Pastoral Concert” (Le Concert champêtre). All of them stand just a few steps from the Mona Lisa, and it’s worth giving them a few minutes before or after the line.

The Mona Lisa isn’t alone at the Louvre. In the nearby Grande Galerie hang more paintings by Leonardo, including “The Virgin of the Rocks” (La Vierge aux rochers), “The Virgin and Child with Saint Anne” (Sainte Anne), and “Saint John the Baptist” (Saint Jean-Baptiste). The last two arrived in France together with the Mona Lisa, in Leonardo’s own luggage. The small “La Belle Ferronnière” is also worth a stop. You can read about the other must-see works in the article 10 Must-See Works at the Louvre Museum (and not a word about the Mona Lisa).

The history of the Mona Lisa

1503: a portrait of a silk merchant’s wife, never delivered

The story begins with Lisa Gherardini (1479-1542), a daughter of an old noble family that held land in Chianti. In 1495 she married Francesco del Giocondo (1465-1538), a silk merchant from Florence, and they had six children. Francesco had known Leonardo’s father, a notary in Florence, since at least 1497, and it was likely through that connection that he reached Leonardo da Vinci (1452-1519), who had returned to the city in 1500.

According to Giorgio Vasari (1511-1574), who published a biography of Leonardo in 1550, it was Francesco who asked the painter to paint his wife. Leonardo worked on the portrait for four years and left it unfinished, and to chase the melancholy from Lisa’s face as she sat for him, he arranged for musicians to play and sing beside her and for jesters to entertain her. Vasari never saw the painting himself, but he lived in Florence, and the Giocondo family was well known in the city’s high society.

That’s also where the names come from. “Mona” is short for “Madonna,” meaning “my lady,” and the French call her La Joconde after her husband’s name. There’s a pun hiding in there too: “Giocondo” means “joyful” in Italian, so “La Gioconda” is, quite literally, the joyful woman (anyone who’s ever stood in line for her on an August afternoon knows that joy isn’t always contagious).

In 2005, proof was found in the library of Heidelberg University that the painting was already underway by October 1503. Agostino Vespucci, who worked alongside Niccolò Machiavelli (1469-1527) in the Florentine chancery, was reading a book by a Roman author, and next to a passage mentioning a Greek painter who left a painting of Venus unfinished, he noted in the margin that Leonardo does the same in all his paintings, “like the head of Lisa del Giocondo.” A single marginal note confirmed what Vasari would write almost fifty years later.

It seems Francesco del Giocondo never received the portrait. Leonardo kept working on it for years and carried it with him from place to place. Between 1513 and 1516 he worked in Rome under the patronage of Giuliano de’ Medici (1479-1516), the pope’s brother, and after Giuliano’s death he received an invitation from the king of France.

In 1516 Leonardo arrived in France at the invitation of Francis I (r. 1515-1547), who gave him the Clos Lucé estate near Château d’Amboise. With him came three unfinished paintings: the Mona Lisa, Saint Anne, and Saint John the Baptist.

On October 10, 1517, the Cardinal of Aragon visited him at Clos Lucé, and his secretary Antonio de Beatis noted in his travel diary that Leonardo showed them, among other things, a portrait of “a certain Florentine lady” painted at the request of the late Giuliano de’ Medici. One version claims the woman in the painting was actually one of Giuliano’s mistresses. The simpler, more plausible version is this: Leonardo often changed the intended purpose of paintings he’d started, and likely just mentioned to his visitor that Giuliano, his patron, had admired the painting and wanted it.

1518: the Mona Lisa becomes French

A document found in 1999 in the French National Archives explains how the Mona Lisa became French. In 1518, Francis I paid the enormous sum of 2,604 livres to Gian Giacomo Caprotti (1480-1524), Leonardo’s pupil known as Salaì, in exchange for “several painted panels” handed over to the king. The size of the sum suggests the king was buying the master’s own originals, and the Mona Lisa was likely among them.

Leonardo died at Clos Lucé on May 2, 1519, and was buried in the church of Saint-Florentin in Amboise. Vasari told the story of him breathing his last in the arms of Francis I, and Ingres (1780-1867) painted the scene in 1818. In fact, the king was at the time in Saint-Germain-en-Laye, where the queen was giving birth to his son, the future Henri II (r. 1547-1559), and royal decrees signed there in early May confirm it (a lovely scene, if only one of its two leading men had actually shown up).

Francis I placed the Mona Lisa in the Château de Fontainebleau, and according to Vasari, she was still there in 1550. In the early 17th century she appeared in the château’s painting gallery, and by 1646 she was hanging in the gilded room next to the bedroom of Anne of Austria (1601-1666).

Louis XIV brought her back to Paris. In 1665-1666 she moved from the Louvre to the Galerie des Ambassadeurs in the Palais des Tuileries, in 1683 she was recorded in the king’s collection inventory compiled by the painter Charles Le Brun (1619-1690), and in the 1690s she moved to the king’s gallery at the Palace of Versailles.

The 18th century passed over her in relative quiet at Versailles. In 1793, when the Revolution opened the “Muséum central des arts” at the Louvre, the Mona Lisa wasn’t chosen for the museum’s opening display (apparently even the world’s most famous painting has days when it fails the audition). She entered the museum’s painting collection only in 1797, and was first shown to the public in 1798.

According to the popular version, Napoleon, then First Consul, took the Mona Lisa to his bedroom in the Tuileries Palace. In reality she likely hung in the apartment of Joséphine de Beauharnais (1763-1814), and soon returned to the Louvre’s Grande Galerie.

In the mid-19th century the painting’s popularity rose. In 1851 it was moved to the Salon Carré, the small room reserved for masterpieces, and writers like Théophile Gautier (1811-1872) wrote enthusiastic descriptions of her that helped create the myth of a mysterious, fatal beauty.

In 1870, during the Franco-Prussian War, the Mona Lisa was taken out of Paris and hidden in the arsenal tunnels of Brest, returning to the Louvre once the war ended.

August 21, 1911: the empty wall and the thief who signed “Leonardo”

Vincenzo Peruggia (1881-1925) was an Italian glazier and house painter working in Paris. A year before the theft, he had himself helped install the glass case around the Mona Lisa, and the police had already held his identification card since 1909, complete with front and profile photographs taken using Alphonse Bertillon’s (1853-1914) method.

On Monday, August 21, 1911, the Louvre was closed to the public. According to the testimony he later gave, Peruggia entered the museum that morning in his work smock, went to the Salon Carré, waited for a moment when he was left alone, and took the painting off the wall. In a side stairwell he removed the frame and glass, hid the panel under his clothes, and left through the Cour Visconti to the rue de Rivoli. At one locked door along the way, he said, a plumber passing by helped him open it without suspecting a thing.

The next morning, the painter Louis Béroud (1852-1930) arrived to paint the Mona Lisa, as he often did, and found only the hooks on the wall. At first the guards assumed the painting had been taken away to be photographed, and when it turned out otherwise, the museum was closed and the police launched an investigation. The frame and glass were found in a service stairwell. Bertillon found a fingerprint on the glass and compared it to the prints of the 257 people who had been in the museum that day, without result, even though Peruggia’s own card had been sitting with the police for two years already.

The first to pay the price was Théophile Homolle (1848-1925), director of the national museums, whose career at the Louvre ended abruptly. Meanwhile, crowds of the curious came to the Louvre to stare at the empty space, and among them, according to some accounts, were Franz Kafka (1883-1924) and his friend Max Brod (1884-1968), who happened to be visiting Paris that September.

The investigation took an unexpected turn. It emerged that an acquaintance of the poet Guillaume Apollinaire (1880-1918), a Belgian adventurer named Géry Pieret, had stolen several ancient statuettes from the Louvre a few years earlier, some of which had ended up with Pablo Picasso (1881-1973). On September 7, 1911, Apollinaire was arrested and held for about a week, and Picasso was questioned too. According to the stories told since, Picasso told investigators he didn’t even know Apollinaire, even though the two were friends. Neither of them had anything to do with the Mona Lisa.

For more than two years, the Mona Lisa lay in Peruggia’s room on the rue de l’Hôpital-Saint-Louis, in a secret compartment at the bottom of a wooden trunk under his bed. In November 1913, he wrote to a Florentine antiques dealer named Alfredo Geri, signing his letter “Leonardo,” and offered to “return to Italy” her masterpiece.

Geri brought in Giovanni Poggi (1880-1961), director of the Uffizi Gallery, and the two arranged to meet Peruggia at the Tripoli-Italia hotel in Florence. Peruggia showed up with a large white trunk, and inside, wrapped in red cloth, waited the Mona Lisa. Poggi and Geri authenticated the painting, feigned surprise, and called in the carabinieri, and the thief was arrested on the spot. On December 12, 1913, the world was told the Mona Lisa had been found (the hotel, incidentally, later renamed itself the “Hotel Gioconda”).

Peruggia claimed he had acted out of patriotism: he was convinced Napoleon had stolen the Mona Lisa from Italy, and he wanted to return her to her homeland. In fact, the Mona Lisa came to France with Leonardo himself and was paid for in full, and what was truly taken from Italy by Napoleon’s army hangs today on the wall facing her, in the form of “The Wedding at Cana.” His patriotism wasn’t entirely pure either, since he expected to receive a reward.

Before returning her, Italy displayed the Mona Lisa in Florence, Rome and Milan, and on January 4, 1914, she returned to the Louvre, now famous across the world and not only among art lovers.

In June 1914, Peruggia was tried in Florence and sentenced to a year and 15 days, later reduced to seven months. He served in the Italian army during World War I, and died in 1925 in Saint-Maur-des-Fossés near Paris of a heart attack, on his birthday.

From 1914 to 2031: shelters, an embassy, and a room of her own

A few months after her return, the Mona Lisa went on the road again. With the outbreak of World War I, she was moved to safety in Bordeaux and then Toulouse, returning to the Louvre once the war ended.

In 1938, during the Sudetenland crisis, the Mona Lisa was sent to the Musée Ingres in Montauban, and quickly returned to Paris.

As World War II approached, Jacques Jaujard (1895-1967), a senior official in the national museums administration, prepared an evacuation plan. On August 25, 1939, the Louvre was closed, and its works were packed into crates and sent in convoys to Château de Chambord, which became the sorting station for the treasures of Paris. The list of 50 key paintings marked for immediate evacuation got two red dots added to their frames. The Mona Lisa got three. She was packed in red velvet padding, inside a box, inside a double crate of poplar wood, and given the number MNLP 0.

On November 14, 1939, she was moved to the Château de Louvigny in western France, where she stayed for seven months under tight guard. In June 1940, as the Germans advanced, she stopped for two days at Chambord, then moved between the Loc-Dieu monastery in Aveyron, the Musée Ingres in Montauban, and the Château de Montal in the Lot region. At Montal, her crate was placed next to a window that had been turned into a door, so that in case of danger she’d be the first one out. After the war, she returned to the Louvre.

On December 30, 1956, a young Bolivian man named Ugo Ungaza Villegas threw a rock at the Mona Lisa. The glass shattered, and Lisa’s left elbow was slightly damaged.

In 1963 the Mona Lisa went on a diplomatic trip to the United States: she was shown at the National Gallery in Washington from January 10 to February 3, and at the Metropolitan Museum in New York from February 7 to March 4, during the era of Charles de Gaulle (1890-1970) and John F. Kennedy (1917-1963). The Washington exhibit was opened with the French minister of culture André Malraux (1901-1976) in attendance.

In 1974 she traveled to Tokyo, where a woman with a disability sprayed red paint on her in protest of the exhibition’s poor accessibility, and on the way back she was shown at the Pushkin Museum in Moscow. That was her last trip: because of how fragile she is, she no longer leaves the Louvre.

Even inside the Louvre she’s barely moved. Between 1992 and 1995 she was displayed in the Grande Galerie, and between 2001 and 2005 in the Salle Rosa, while the Salle des États was being renovated, which she returned to in 2005. In the summer of 2019, during another round of renovation, she moved to the Galerie Médicis from July 17 to October 7.

In the 21st century, her bulletproof glass has put in plenty of overtime:

• In 2009, a Russian visitor threw a cup at the glass, protesting the rejection of her application for French citizenship.
• In 2022, a man disguised as an elderly woman in a wheelchair smeared cake on the glass.
• On January 28, 2024, two activists from the group Riposte Alimentaire threw soup they had smuggled in a coffee thermos, in protest for “the right to healthy and sustainable food.” The painting wasn’t damaged, and the room was closed for an hour of cleaning.

On January 28, 2025, President Emmanuel Macron stood in front of the Mona Lisa and unveiled “Louvre Nouvelle Renaissance,” a renovation and expansion plan for the museum, shortly after Louvre president Laurence des Cars (b. 1966) had warned of water leaks and failing infrastructure. At the heart of the plan is a second entrance on the colonnade side built by Claude Perrault (1613-1688), and a dedicated room for the Mona Lisa beneath the Cour Carrée, which will require a separate ticket whose price has yet to be set.

In May 2026, the architects were chosen: STUDIOS Architecture Paris, together with Selldorf Architects of New York, with an opening planned for 2031. Until then, the Mona Lisa stays in room 711, behind the same glass, facing the same Venetian wedding. What do you think: in a room of her own, with her own ticket, will she be more mysterious, or less?

Where to stay near the Mona Lisa

If you want to be first in the room at 9:00 a.m., staying near the Louvre saves you the morning commute. Here are three hotels in the 1st arrondissement, and I’ve personally stayed at two of them. You’ll find more options in the article on the Louvre Museum and on the page hotels in the 1st arrondissement of Paris.

Hôtel Brighton

A 4-star hotel facing the Jardin des Tuileries, a short walk from the Louvre. I’ve stayed here before, and I recommend asking for a room with a view over the gardens. Prices start at around 222 euros a night.

More information and booking

Hôtel Molière

An upscale, indulgent 4-star boutique hotel between the Louvre and the Palais-Royal, which I’ve also stayed at (and if you love Molière as much as I do, the name is a nice little bonus). Prices start at around 252 euros a night.

More information and booking

Hôtel Regina Louvre

A 5-star hotel on the Place des Pyramides, right across from the Louvre, built for the 1900 World’s Fair and still keeping its original mosaic floors and period furniture. Some rooms offer a view of the gardens, the Seine and the Eiffel Tower all at once. This is a hotel for a splurge, not for a tight budget.

More information and booking

Frequently asked questions about the Mona Lisa

Where is the Mona Lisa?

The Mona Lisa is at the Louvre Museum in Paris, in the Salle des États, room 711 in the Denon Wing on Level 1. From the entrance under the pyramid, head toward the Denon Wing and go up one floor, and the signs will lead you to the room. The Louvre plans to move her to a dedicated room of her own, with an opening planned for 2031.

How much does it cost to see the Mona Lisa?

There’s no separate ticket for the Mona Lisa, and a regular Louvre admission ticket is enough. Since January 14, 2026, tickets cost 32 euros for visitors from outside the European Economic Area and 22 euros for EEA citizens and residents. Visitors under 18 get in free, and it’s best to book a ticket with a fixed entry time in advance.

How big is the Mona Lisa?

The Mona Lisa is smaller than most people imagine: 31.25 x 21 inches, oil paint on a poplar wood panel. The panel has never been cut, though over the years it’s warped slightly and developed a crack. On the wall facing it, in the same room, hangs Veronese’s “The Wedding at Cana,” which is nearly 33 feet wide.

Why is the Mona Lisa so famous?

The Mona Lisa was already a celebrated work as early as 1550, when Giorgio Vasari described her in his biography of Leonardo, and 19th-century writers turned her into a mysterious beauty. But she earned her global, popular fame after she was stolen from the Louvre on August 21, 1911, and disappeared for more than two years, until she was found in Florence in December 1913.

Was the Mona Lisa stolen in the 2025 Louvre heist?

No. In the heist of October 19, 2025, jewelry was stolen from the French crown jewels collection displayed in the Galerie d’Apollon, including pieces attributed to Napoleon and Empress Joséphine. The Mona Lisa wasn’t touched. The only time she was ever stolen was in 1911, by the Italian glazier Vincenzo Peruggia.

When will the Mona Lisa move to her new room?

Under the “Louvre Nouvelle Renaissance” plan unveiled by President Macron in January 2025, the Mona Lisa will move to a dedicated room beneath the Cour Carrée, with a new entrance on the colonnade side and a separate ticket. In May 2026 the architects were chosen, with an opening planned for 2031. Until then, she stays in room 711.

Related reading

• The 7th Arrondissement of Paris: Eiffel Tower, Orsay, Rodin and Les Invalides
• The Luxembourg Gardens: A Walking Tour of Paris’s Favorite Garden by Yoel Thamanlis and Zvi Chazanov
• Centre Pompidou 2026: The Complete Guide for Those Who Love the Museum (and Those Who Don’t)