Iconic architecture detracts from its contents – IM Pei recalled

So successful has been IM Pei’s glass pyramid at the Louvre that it has become a destination in its own right, clogging up the ticketing process for art lovers wishing to see the gallery’s other 300,000 exhibits. Of the three entrances to Paris’s major tourist attraction, the pyramid hall attracts two-thirds of the 7.5 million visitors. IM Pei has been recalled to find a solution to the problem which has been exacerbated by the opening scene of the cult book/film the Da Vinci Code which is set in the entrance hall. The £48 million rebuilding programme is scheduled for 2009-12.