Mona Lisa frown.
If you’re traveling to Paris in the near future, there is some bad news and some good news. The bad news: you likely won’t be able to see the Mona Lisa or any of the masterpieces hanging inside the Louvre, because it’s currently shut down. The good news: You’ll get to see a strong labor movement at work. On Monday, staff at the world’s most-visited museum went on strike, forcing the museum to close its doors over concerns about the effects of mass tourism, according to the Associated Press.
The shutdown followed a weekend of protests against tourism that spread across Europe. In Spain, travelers hanging out at popular tourist destinations were drenched by demonstrators armed with water guns. Mass demonstrations also broke out in Mallorca, Venice, Italy, and Portugal’s capital of Lisbon, per the AP, with locals leading chants like “Everywhere you look, all you see are tourists.” The objection the residents have to the visitors is primarily their role in causing an affordability crisis, leading to things like housing costs skyrocketing as homes are sought after to be listed on Airbnb and other short-term rental markets.
