The Louvre was shuttered on Monday, leaving hordes of tourists outside amid its famous glass pyramids. The reason? The Paris museum’s security and reception staff were on strike, protesting “unprecedented deterioration of conditions” amid record crowds.

The museum, located in a former royal palace on the city’s Right Bank, attracted a record 10.2 million visitors last year – a 25% increase over the year before. “No other museum in the world has ever equaled this figure,” the museum trumpeted in January.

But workers say both visitors and staff are suffering from such massive popularity.

“The Louvre is suffocating,” the Sud Culture Solidaires Union said in a statement Sunday. “While the public has increased by more than 20% since 2009, the palace has not grown. … Today the situation is untenable.”

Amid rising crowds from 2009 to 2018, staff headcount declined in that period from 2,161 to 2,005, according to the union.

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