€50 million for the Uffizi, €160 for construction workers

The Uffizi Gallery welcomed 5.2 million visitors last year. Now, the Florence museum has announced a grand-scale renovation, including work on gardens designed for the Medici family in the 16th century.

The project appears alongside a series of developments reshaping museums around the world. Abu Dhabi is preparing to open the largest Guggenheim museum, while Chinese museums are extending their hours into the night to cope with heavy visitor demand.

At the same time, museum robberies are becoming more violent. The contrast between ambitious cultural construction, overcrowded institutions and growing security threats points to the range of problems museums now face.

These challenges extend beyond the museums themselves. Mass tourism is testing their capacity, the climate crisis is affecting how cultural spaces are designed and operated, and political disputes are adding another source of pressure.