Not just the Louvre: How Europe's museums face the future

If you haven't visited the Louvre, then you haven't really seen Paris — this thought may well be shared by the nearly nine million visitors who descend upon the museum every year to try and catch a glimpse of the Mona Lisa through the crowds.

The museum itself is 230 years old, and many of its structures are reaching their limits. The walls are moist, putting the artwork at risk, and the entrance under the iconic glass pyramid is far too small for the ever-growing number of visitors. 

That is set to change by 2031. That should be the year when a major renovation, recently announced by France's President, Emmanuel Macron, comes to an end, letting the dilapidated building shine in a new and modern light.

Future-proofing museums

How can you outfit museums for the future and make them internationally competitive?

That is also the question in Berlin, where the Museum Island — a complex of classic and modern buildings that is recognized as a UNESCO World Heritage site — receives nearly 3 million individuals annually.

In 1999, the Prussian Cultural Heritage Foundation (SPK), which manages the museums, announced a multibillion plan to overhaul the individual buildings.

Three of the Museum Island's five historic buildings have already been renovated and are open to the public: the Old National Gallery (Alte Nationalgalerie), the Bode Museum and the New National Gallery (Neue Nationalgalerie). Since 2019, the modern James Simon Gallery has served as the entrance and reception area for the island's many visitors.

Works began in the Pergamon Museum in 2012 and are expected to last until 2037. The museum's famous artworks, like the ancient Greek Pergamon altar or the Babylonian Ishtar gate, will spend years in warehouses.

Many of the buildings that house museums are protected national landmarks, which means they are subject to strict rules. At the same time, the new buildings must also be sustainable, climate-neutral and modern.

The SPK has said that the renovated buildings boast more exhibition space, offerings on topics like diversity and family, more tours for children and teens, and greater accessibility. A contemporary appearance should attract people of all ages and educational backgrounds, and young visitors should get more out of a visit than just some cool spots for taking selfies.

Reimagining museums as spaces for socializing

A general consensus clearly emerged during the coronavirus pandemic, when museums were forced to close, resulting in major financial losses: Museums need different offerings if they want to reach people — and they must become more than just pilgrimage destinations for art lovers. For many people, going to a museum is a leisure activity, something to do on a rainy afternoon, or as an essential part of a city vacation. Museum offerings should correspond to this. They should be conceived not just as places of education, but as stylish spaces for socializing. 

For decades now, many cities, including Berlin, have hosted a "Long Night of Museums": Visitors can buy reduced-price tickets that let them stroll through museums at night while eating, drinking, chatting, listening to music or even dancing to a DJ set.

Some museums, like the Baden State Museum in the southwest German city of Karlsruhe, have turned from single tickets to subscriptions as a way to build visitor loyalty. Anyone who wants to, can come multiple times and also avoid long wait times. This takes pressure off the visitor from feeling like they have to see everything in one single go. 

Going digital

Long lines are something that German Eike Schmidt is very familiar with from his time as director of the Uffizi Galleries in Florence, Italy, which he led from 2015 to 2023. During his tenure, he aimed to modernize the museums.

With the help of IT experts, he developed a sophisticated entrance management system that enables visitors to digitally reserve a specific time window to visit. Programs and algorithms manage the visitor volume by tracking how and when individuals move around and the length of time they spend in certain spots. Entrance prices are more expensive in peak season and lower in the off season.

This paid off, Schmidt said in 2019 in an interview with the German Press Agency (dpa).

"We had fewer visitors from June to October. But we made up for this in the 'low' season," he explained, saying that this lead to record numbers of visitors over all.

Schmidt also made the museum digitally accessible.

"When I joined, the Uffizi didn't even have its own website, let alone social media channels," he said in the same interview.

Today the museum has some 800,000 Instagram followers.

Nearly all museums recognize how important social media is today. Many of them are even on Tiktok, like the Uffizi (170,000 followers), the Rijksmuseum in Amsterdam (200,000 followers), or the Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) in New York City (300,000 followers).

Many museums also collaborate with influencers who have their own substantial reach.

One example is Jette Lübbehüsen, who works with the Van Gogh Museum in Amsterdam. One of her most successful formats is "Famous Paintings as Outfits," in which she wears clothes inspired by the aesthetics of specific artworks.

The Louvre has yet to get its own TikTok account, but it is already very present on the platform thanks to the many thousands of users who post photos of their visit there, be it shots of giant throngs of people or selfies with the Mona Lisa. There will be much more space for the latter in the "new" Louvre, as the world-famous painting by Leonardo da Vinci (1452-1519) will get its own dedicated room.

This article was originally written in German.