Now there’s a way to beat the crowd to see the Mona Lisa up close

There’s a way to skip the queues and protective glass at the Louvre and get close to Mona Lisa.

A man takes a photograph of The Mona Lisa by Leonardo da Vinci behind protective glass at the Louvre. Picture: AP

With 20,000 people jostling each day for a look at the Mona Lisa in the Louvre, smiles can quickly turn to grimaces.

For the first time, however, the Paris museum will allow visitors to go beyond the glass screen protecting Leonardo da Vinci’s most famous painting as part of a virtual reality experience that will also be available across the world via the HTC digital subscription service Viveport. HTC Vive Arts has worked with the Louvre on the project.

Dominique de Font-Reaulx, a director at the Louvre, said: “The public will be able to discover an immersive experience with an extraordinary masterpiece. This collaboration will allow visitors to meet and learn more about the Mona Lisa herself, beyond the myths and legends that have surrounded her for over 500 years.”

Mona Lisa: Beyond the Glass will allow visitors to see the painting in detail. It incorporates new research into the techniques of the artist “as well as further information on the identity of the sitter”, according to the museum.

A blockbuster Leonardo exhibition in Paris in October is one of several shows across Europe this year held in commemoration of the death of the Renaissance polymath 500 years ago.

The Louvre, which holds more Leonardo paintings than any other institution, is trying to secure Salvator Mundi, the world’s most expensive painting, for its show.

But questions have been raised about whether curators would be willing to display it as a work solely by Leonardo. Its owner, believed to be the Crown Prince of Saudi Arabia, Mohammed bin Salman, would be reluctant to have it displayed as a “workshop painting” — produced with some oversight from Leonardo by his assistants — which many experts believe it to be.

The Times

Tourists wait in line to visit the Louvre museum. Picture: Thibault Camus/AP