An ugly year for the Louvre: where does the world’s biggest museum go from here?

Everyone agrees that the Louvre needs work, but the expensive proposals have come under attack. Illustration: Guardian Design

Just over a year ago, Laurence des Cars, the intellectually brilliant (if famously prickly) former head of the largest and most-visited museum in the world, wrote a somewhat alarming note to her boss, France’s culture minister.

Des Cars, who on Tuesday resigned as president of the Louvre, lamented the advanced state of disrepair of the iconic museum’s buildings and galleries.