The Louvre announced on Monday that it had selected a team of French and German architects to design its ambitious expansion project, which will transform one of the world’s foremost museums but has faced mounting criticism because of its cost.
The design calls for a grand second public entrance to ease overcrowding and expand the Louvre’s capacity by three million visitors a year, as well as new exhibition space that would allow the crowds to see the Paris museum’s masterpiece, Leonardo da Vinci’s Mona Lisa, while skipping the rest of its collection.
STUDIOS Architecture Paris, the French branch of an international firm founded in San Francisco, and Selldorf Architects, a New York-based firm led by the German architect Annabelle Selldorf, were selected from a shortlist of five competitors, according to the French culture minister, Catherine Pégard.
Ms. Pégard said in a statement that the design proposed by the winning firms was “respectful and contemporary” and would create “an elegant connection between the city, the palace and the museum.”
STUDIOS Architecture collaborated with the Canadian American architect Frank Gehry on the strikingly modern Fondation Louis Vuitton museum in Paris. Selldorf is also known for its work on cultural institutions, including expansions of the Frick Collection in New York and the National Gallery in London.
The decision, after months of deliberation and delay, was announced a few days after the 21-person international jury convened for a final time to select a winner from five contenders.
The Louvre makeover is viewed as a legacy-defining project for President Emmanuel Macron, who will leave office next spring. Mr. Macron announced the competition, along with the museum’s then-director, Laurence des Cars, in early 2025 at the Louvre, the ancient palace of France’s monarchs.
But the project has been dogged from the start by questions about financing, the design concept and political uncertainty, given next year’s presidential election. Things took a turn for the worse last October, after an audacious robbery brought unwelcome headlines and threw the Louvre into turmoil.
Ms. des Cars resigned under pressure in February. Her successor, Christophe Leribault, said he remained committed to the project, known as “Louvre — New Renaissance.”
The winning architecture firm was supposed to be announced several months ago. But the daylight heist of priceless crown jewels, which are still missing, brought the process to a halt. It exposed grave flaws in the Louvre’s security, as well as the decaying state of the building, parts of which date to 1190.
Worse followed: A water leak damaged a library. A gallery had to be closed because its beams were found to be unsound. A vast ticket fraud scheme that is suspected of having involved two Louvre agents was exposed. And part of the museum’s staff repeatedly went on strike, protesting working conditions and the plan to overhaul the museum.
Ségolène Le Stradic contributed reporting
Mark Landler is the Paris bureau chief of The Times, covering France, as well as American foreign policy in Europe and the Middle East. He has been a journalist for more than three decades.
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