You'll Now Need a Reservation to See the Mona Lisa As Part of the Louvre's Reopening Rules

As The Louvre in Paris reopened on Monday, Europeans flocked to the museum to enjoy one of their city’s greatest cultural treasures without having to fight tourists from around the world.

“It’s super," one visitor from Belgium told The Associated Press. “The ideal moment to visit.”

However, whether you're coming from down the street or another country, there are a host of new things to know before visiting.

Museum-goers must make a reservation before visiting, according to their website, to comply with their new capacity restrictions. Only 500 people are permitted to enter the Louvre every half-hour.

On its opening day, 7,000 people made reservations to visit, according to Le Monde. The AP noted that on a typical day — before the existence of coronavirus — the Louvre would see 50,000 visitors a day.

Guests are also required to wear face masks and follow a one-way route. The same rule applies at Paris' Pompidou Centre where visitors are asked to travel in one direction for the duration of their time.

Several rooms at the Louvre, which house about 30 percent of the museum’s collection, will remain closed to the public for health and safety reasons. The room where the Mona Lisa is displayed has been reconfigured for a healthier flow of human traffic, with visitors entering and exiting through different doors.

The Eiffel Tower is also newly reopened, after its longest closure since World War II. The monument has also taken several precautions, closing its topmost floor to visitors until further notice. Visitors must now take the stairs to the tower’s first and second floors, as elevators are closed.

While some visitors are headed back to the Louvre and the Eiffel Tower, most of the world still cannot visit. Because of European Union travel restrictions, the only people who can travel to France are residents of the EU or one of about a dozen approved countries around the world.

France specifically began easing up on its lockdown restrictions for residents in May.