Where is the Mona Lisa?
Updated October 28, 2026
Quick answer
The original Mona Lisa is in the Louvre Museum in Paris: it hangs in room 711, called the Salle des États, on level 1 of the Denon wing (one floor above street level). It is the largest room in the museum, and the painting is protected behind glass, with controlled temperature and humidity. Facing it is Veronese's The Wedding at Cana.
Leonardo da Vinci painted it in Florence from 1503 and took it with him to France, where it passed to King Francis I. It was kept at Fontainebleau and Versailles before reaching the Louvre in 1797, after the Revolution. That is why it is in France and not in Italy. There is another version, painted in Leonardo's workshop at the same time as the original, in the Prado Museum in Madrid: the so-called Prado Mona Lisa.
Which museum and room it is in
In the Louvre Museum, room 711, the Salle des États, on level 1 of the Denon wing, the museum's south wing. The work is an oil on poplar panel measuring 79 × 53 cm, painted between 1503 and 1519, and the woman portrayed is, in all likelihood, Lisa Gherardini, wife of Francesco del Giocondo. Until 2005 it hung in another room, the Salle Rose; since then it has been in the Salle des États. On August 21, 1911, a former museum employee, Vincenzo Peruggia, stole it, and it did not come back for more than two years.
How to get to the room
From the Pyramid entrance, go down to the hall (level −1) and follow signs to the Denon entrance. From there you go up to level 1; room 711 lies between rooms 700 and 702 and opens onto room 712. The official accessible route uses elevators K or L, which are next to the room. During the 2026 works, if you are in the Sully wing, the museum tells you to take elevator G down to level −1, head back toward the Pyramid and go in again through Denon. The reserved-access tours we sell end precisely at the Mona Lisa.
How crowded it is and when
The museum does not publish visitor figures by room, so there is no reliable figure for how many people stand in front of the painting at each hour. What is documented is that the Louvre's president proposed moving the painting in 2024 because the room was overcrowded, and that the "Louvre Nouvelle Renaissance" plan, announced in January 2025, foresees moving the Mona Lisa to its own space under the Cour Carrée, with a separate entrance and a dedicated ticket, by 2031. For now it is still in room 711. The regional tourist office advises going first thing, between 9:00 and 10:00 a.m., or on Wednesday and Friday evenings, when the museum is open until 9:00 p.m.
Which painting faces it
Directly opposite hangs The Wedding at Cana by Veronese (Paolo Caliari), the largest painting in the Louvre, at almost 70 m². It was painted for the refectory of a monastery in Venice; Napoleon's troops took it to Paris, rolled up, in 1797. The museum's page on this room calls it "a star facing 132 figures": the Mona Lisa alone in front of Veronese's crowded banquet.
Frequently asked questions
Which museum is the Mona Lisa in?
In the Louvre Museum in Paris, in room 711 (Salle des États) of the Denon wing, level 1.
Where is the original Mona Lisa located?
In the Louvre. The version in the Prado Museum in Madrid is a work from Leonardo's workshop, painted at the same time as the original.
Why is the Mona Lisa in France and not in Italy?
Because Leonardo took it to France, where King Francis I acquired it. It passed through Fontainebleau and Versailles and reached the Louvre in 1797.
Which painting is opposite the Mona Lisa?
Veronese's The Wedding at Cana, the largest painting in the Louvre, at almost 70 m².
Is the Mona Lisa going to move rooms?
It is planned. The plan announced in January 2025 foresees giving it its own space under the Cour Carrée by 2031. In the meantime, it remains in room 711.
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