Why Louvre’s Mona Lisa keeps a smile: Paris’s cooling system

Undated photo of Leonardo da Vinci’s masterpiece, the Mona Lisa, one of the great treasures of the Louvre museum in Paris. A sophisticated cooling system helps protect the 16th-century oil on poplar wood painting from the ravages of heat. Image courtesy of Wikimedia Commons, photo credit Musee du Louvre. Wikimedia Commons regards this work as being in the public domain in the United States.
Undated photo of Leonardo da Vinci’s masterpiece, the Mona Lisa, one of the great treasures of the Louvre museum in Paris. A sophisticated cooling system helps protect the 16th-century oil on poplar wood painting from the ravages of heat. Image courtesy of Wikimedia Commons, photo credit Musee du Louvre. Wikimedia Commons regards this work as being in the public domain in the United States.
Undated photo of Leonardo da Vinci’s masterpiece, the ‘Mona Lisa,’ one of the great treasures of the Louvre museum in Paris. A sophisticated cooling system helps protect the 16th-century oil on poplar wood painting from the ravages of heat. Image courtesy of Wikimedia Commons, photo credit Musee du Louvre. Wikimedia Commons regards this work as being in the public domain in the United States.

PARIS (AP) – The Mona Lisa may maintain her famously enigmatic smile because she benefits from one of Paris’s best-kept secrets: An underground cooling system that’s helped the Louvre cope with the sweltering heat that has broken temperature records across Europe.

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Man in wig throws cake at glass protecting Mona Lisa

The Mona Lisa was attacked with cake on May 29 by a protester attempting to draw attention to the effects of climate change. The famous painting is covered by a sheet of glass, ensuring it suffered no damage. Image courtesy of Wikimedia Commons, photo credit The Louvre. Per the Wikimedia Foundation, the work is considered to be in the public domain in the United States.
The Mona Lisa was attacked with cake on May 29 by a protester attempting to draw attention to the effects of climate change. The famous painting is covered by a sheet of glass, ensuring it suffered no damage. Image courtesy of Wikimedia Commons, photo credit The Louvre. Per the Wikimedia Foundation, the work is considered to be in the public domain in the United States.
The Mona Lisa was attacked with cake on May 29 by a protester attempting to draw attention to the effects of climate change. The famous painting is covered by a sheet of glass, ensuring it suffered no damage. Image courtesy of Wikimedia Commons, photo credit The Louvre. Per the Wikimedia Foundation, the work is considered to be in the public domain in the United States.

PARIS (AP) – A man seemingly disguised as an old woman in a wheelchair threw a piece of cake at the glass protecting the Mona Lisa at the Louvre Museum and shouted at people to think of planet Earth. The Paris prosecutor’s office said May 30 that the 36-year-old man was detained following the May 29 incident and sent to a police psychiatric unit. An investigation has been opened into the damage of cultural artifacts.

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