Paris' Louvre museum closed on Monday due to strike

Paris' Louvre ⁠museum will be closed on Monday ‍due to a ‌strike ‍protest from staff, who have gone strike several times during the past weeks over pay and working conditions, said ⁠the museum on its website.

The Louvre is the world's most visited museum ‌but it has been left reeling by a major robbery ‍last October, ‍when four burglars ‍made off ⁠with jewels ‍worth $102 million. The jewels are still missing.

"Due to public strikes, the Musee du Louvre is closed today," the museum said in a message posted on its website, informing disappointed tourists and art lovers that their entry tickets would be automatically reimbursed.

The museum closed for a full day last month and has been only partially open on several other days since.

Nearly three months after an embarrassing daylight heist, which has heaped pressure on Louvre bosses, staff are calling for more recruitment and better maintenance of the vast former royal palace.

Questions continue to swirl since the October 19 break-in over whether it was avoidable and why thieves were able to steal crown jewels worth more than $100 million.

Two intruders used a truck-mounted extendable platform to access a gallery containing the jewels, slicing through a glass door with disk-cutters in front of startled visitors before stealing eight priceless items.

As well as the robbery, two other recent incidents have highlighted maintenance problems inside the building, which chief architect Francois Chatillon has described as "not in a good state".

A water leak in November damaged hundreds of books and manuscripts in the Egyptian department, while management had to shut a gallery housing ancient Greek ceramics in October because ceiling beams above it risked giving way.