With 8.7 million visitors last year — more than double what the museum's infrastructure was designed to handle — the Louvre has become a symbol of tourism pushed beyond its breaking point. Even with a daily cap of 30,

The Louvre, the world’s most-visited museum and a global symbol of art, beauty and endurance, remained shuttered Monday — not by war, not by terror, but by its own exhausted staff, who say the institution is crumbling from within.

The Louvre, the world's most visited museum, abruptly shut down due to a strike over overcrowding and poor working conditions. Here's why the closure matters for tourists and the future of global heritage travel.