The Louvre, the world's most-visited museum and home to Leonardo da Vinci's Mona Lisa has requested urgent help from the French government to restore and renovate its aging exhibition halls and better protect its countless works of art.

In a letter to Culture Minister Rachida Dati, revealed by Paris daily Le Parisien and confirmed to Reuters by the Louvre, Louvre President Laurence des Cars warned that the centuries-old building is in a dire state, and pointed at problems with water leaks and "worrying temperature swings which endanger the conservation of works of art".