Leonardo da Vinci's Mona Lisa hangs on the wall in a deserted Louvre museum in Paris. The 518-year-old Mona Lisa will have seen many things in her life on display, but rarely this: almost four months with no visitors. She stares out in Paris' Louvre, across bulletproof glass into the now-silent emptiness of the shuttered Salle des Etats. (AP Photo)

The Victory of Samothrace sculpture is seen in a deserted Louvre. It's uncertain when the museum will reopen, after being closed on October 30 in line with the French government's virus containment measures. But those lucky enough to get in, benefit from a rarified private look at collections covering 9,000 years of human history—with plenty of space to breathe. (AP Photo)

Workers at the Louvre museum handle a painting called Saint Louis, King of France and his Page by Spanish painter El Greco, as it returns from an exhibition at the Chicago Institute, in the Louvre museum, in Paris. (AP Photo)

Workers at the Louvre museum pull a scaffolding. Though empty corridors and vacant galleries are a grim sight for frustrated art-lovers, they are a golden opportunity to do works of renovation, refurbishment and re-ordering that were simply not possible with the around 10 million visitors per year. (AP Photo)

Workers handle a bust of Guillaume de Lamoignon by French sculptor Francois Girardon, in the Louvre museum, in Paris. (AP Photo)

The Venus of Milo sculpture, background, is lit by a ray of light in the Louvre museum. (AP Photo)

Workers at the Louvre museum transport a painting called Christ on the Cross Adored by Two Donors'by Spanish painter El Greco, as it returns from an exhibition at the Chicago Institute, in the Louvre museum. (AP Photo)

The sculpture called Funerary monument to Francois-Louis de Bourbon, Prince de Conti by French sculptor Nicolas Coustou is covered with plastic sheeting, at the Louvre. (AP Photo)

The Winged Victory of Samothrace sculpture stands at the top of a staircase in a deserted Louvre museum, in Paris. (AP Photo)

A view of the hall of Greek sculptures in a deserted Louvre museum, in Paris. (AP Photo)

With no crowds, Louvre gets rare chance to refurbish

The 518-year-old Mona Lisa has seen many things in her life on a wall, but rarely this: almost four months with no Louvre visitors.