Paris's top museums shut on Wednesday and the Mona Lisa kept her fans waiting as staff went on strike, protesting against cost cuts that they see as a threat to priceless art. Museums such as the Louvre, which houses the Mona Lisa at the heart of an art collection spanning millennia, help make France the world's top tourist destination. But staff say job cuts and lower subsidies are endangering this status.
"The fewer staff there are, the greater the risk that the museum opens in conditions that are unacceptable in terms of security, be it for the artworks, visitors or building," said Didier Alaime, spokesman of the CGT union's culture section.