Musée du Louvre
Mona Lisa
Paris, France
2004
In 2005, following four years of exhibition in the Salles Rouges, the Mona Lisa was returned its original exhibition space in the large Salle des Etats (Room of the States). The Salle des Etats was restored in 2019 and transformed to give Leonardo’s painting a new display environment befitting its masterpiece status, offering peerless protection and maximum transparency.
Units
1
Area
450 m2
The challenge
Realizing the display case for the Mona Lisa was a challenge in and of itself because of the great responsibility of protecting such an important emblem of our cultural heritage and the technical challenges of so doing.
The exhibition case itself was unusually large. Its single door alone measured 2.2 x 3.5 meters. Security elements were of the highest order and conservation characteristics had to protect the precious poplar wood panel of the painting from sudden changes in relative humidity and from pollutants brought in by the approximately six million visitors that crowd in front of the masterpiece each year.
Goppion was uniquely qualified to assemble a team with the advanced, specialized technical skills the project demanded.
Exhibition design: Lorenzo Piqueras, Paris
The display case
We created an especially transparent yet virtually impermeable antiglare glass face composed of multiple, alternating layers of glass and PVB sheets. For security, the display case is made of thick steel and further protected by rear armour-plating made out of high-resistance steel.
The painting’s support system allows the Museum staff to remove it quickly in the event of emergency. A compression system seals the perimeter at multiple points, achieving a higher-than-requested level of security and airtightness.
To address the unique climate-control issues the project presented, we worked with the Polytechnic University of Milan, to design and build a complex, combined passive/active, system to both stabilize relative humidity and filter the air within the case. The system includes two completely independent and redundant units; if one fails the other takes over automatically and immediately.
Dimensions:
l = 220 cm
d = 60 cm
h = 460 cm
The world’s most famous painting on display in Galerie Médicis, during the restoration of the Salle des Etats.
Goppion won an international competition to produce a temporary case to display and protect the Mona Lisa during the restoration of the Salle des Etats.
In 2019 Goppion renovated the painting’s display case, including fitting new glass for greater protection and visibility, and making changes to the front shelf, which houses conservation technology and lighting features.
The original case from 2005 (left) and the new case, installed in 2019.
Artefact spotlight
The Mona Lisa by Leonardo da Vinci
The Mona Lisa is a masterpiece among masterpieces, the pinnacle of the Italian art of the Renaissance, and the center of Louvre Museum. It has been described as “the best known, the most visited, the most written about, the most sung about, the most parodied work of art in the world.”
It is certainly one of humanity’s greatest treasures and is seen by around 30,000 people every day.
