Visitors Arrested at Louvre After Posting Their Artworks Near Mona Lisa

Two visitors to the Louvre in Paris were arrested Saturday after they installed two paintings in the Salle des États, which houses the Mona Lisa, according to a report by Agence France-Presse that cited police sources.

According to police, they stuck two paintings (each measuring about 11.8 by 15.7 inches) onto the walls of the Salle des États with sticky tape. One painting showed one of the suspects wearing a suit of armor, while the other showed the two with a woman. The Mona Lisa, which attracts crowds from opening to close, was not damaged in the incident.

The two visitors were not identified by first name and last name initial, as is common in France, but only as German nationals. They were first detained by the Louvre’s security team before being arrested for damaging the museum’s walls; they told police they did it for fun, AFP reports.

The Louvre did not immediately respond to ARTnews’s request for comment.

Museums in France—and elsewhere in Europe—have been on high alert for the past year because thieves have taken valuable objects from their walls, not because visitors have added inconsequential ones to them. Nearly a year ago, the Louvre itself was the subject of a major heist in which $102 million worth of crown jewels were stolen in broad daylight from the Galerie d’Apollon, not far from the Mona Lisa. A series of thefts at various museums has followed in the wake.

Shortly after the Louvre heist, a government audit leaked saying that the museum’s security system was “outdated and inadequate” and that there had been “repeated postponements of the scheduled modernization of security systems.” In the fallout, Laurence des Cars, the first woman to serve as president-director of the Louvre, resigned in February and was replaced the following day by Christophe Leribault.

Over the summer, Leribault told the French Senate that the Louvre is “at the end of its ropes” because “urgent building issues are piling up, and we are facing a massive investment challenge.” He added that the museum is addressing “the necessary emergencies head-on,” which include its security; a new video surveillance system around the perimeter is to be installed in January.

The Louvre will soon undergo a major renovation that is expected to cost more than €1 billion ($1.2 billion). The purpose is to ease the overcrowding of the museum and the construction of a new 33,000-square-foot exhibition space of Mona Lisa, which will have its own entrance. The plans were briefly put on pause earlier this year before being resumed, with the Louvre finally naming the architecture team to realize the renovation, called the “New Louvre Renaissance,” in May.