The Louvre has selected a team of architects from France, Germany, and the United States to lead its planned expansion, an ambitious project aimed at increasing the museum’s capacity and improving visitor flow amid rising attendance and longstanding structural challenges. The announcement was made Monday following months of deliberation and a final decision by a 21-member international jury.

The winning design was proposed jointly by Studios Architecture Paris—part of a global firm originally founded in San Francisco—and Selldorf Architects, a New York-based practice led by German-born Annabelle Selldorf. The project, dubbed “Louvre — New Renaissance,” envisions a new main public entrance on the eastern side of the palace, centered on the 17th-century Grande Colonnade, a classical facade dating to the reign of King Louis XIV. This new access point is intended to alleviate severe congestion at the existing main entrance, the iconic glass pyramid designed by I.M. Pei, which now handles more than double its originally planned annual visitor capacity.

The expansion will also include approximately 33,000 square feet of new exhibition space dedicated to Leonardo da Vinci’s Mona Lisa, allowing visitors to view the masterpiece without traversing the entire museum. The design incorporates a broad plaza, gardens, and walkways in an area previously characterized by a dry moat, transforming this underutilized part of the complex into a prominent public space.

French Culture Minister Catherine Pégard described the plan as a “respectful and contemporary” approach that creates an “elegant connection between the city, the palace, and the museum.” Studios Architecture is known for collaborating with Frank Gehry on the Fondation Louis Vuitton in Paris, while Selldorf has led cultural projects such as expansions of New York’s Frick Collection and London’s National Gallery.

Since the project’s inception in early 2025, it has encountered significant hurdles, including concerns over financing, design, and political uncertainty linked to the upcoming presidential election. The initiative was briefly set back by a high-profile robbery last October during which priceless crown jewels were stolen, exposing security vulnerabilities and raising questions about the museum’s condition—parts of which date back more than 800 years. Subsequent issues have included water damage to a library, closure of a gallery due to unsafe beams, a ticket fraud scheme implicating museum employees, and repeated staff strikes protesting working conditions and the renovation plan.

Laurence des Cars, the Louvre’s director at the project’s launch, resigned in February amid these difficulties. Her successor, Christophe Leribault, who previously led the Versailles Palace Museum, has reaffirmed commitment to the project, emphasizing its necessity despite the challenges. Leribault acknowledged that while cost adjustments may be possible, they would only marginally impact the overall budget.

Estimates of the project’s cost vary widely. Initial projections put the price tag at around 270 million euros ($316 million), but an audit by France’s national auditing authority suggested the figure could be closer to 1.1 billion euros. The auditor criticized past leadership for prioritizing exhibitions and acquisitions over essential maintenance. The Louvre plans to partially finance the expansion through increased visitor revenue and licensing income, including proceeds from its Abu Dhabi outpost.

The selection of an international team sparked some debate, as prominent French architects such as Jean Nouvel and Dominique Perrault were notably absent from the finalists, which also included American, British, and Japanese contenders. Jury members included notable figures like architect Hala Wardé and Li Chung Pei, son of I.M. Pei.

If completed, this transformation would represent the most significant structural and visitor experience overhaul at the Louvre since the opening of Pei’s pyramid entrance in 1989, positioning the museum to better accommodate its growing international audience ahead of President Emmanuel Macron’s departure next spring.