Mona Lisa to be moved from Louvre

Here comes a kind heads-up for those who want to fly to Paris to check out the world's most famous painting, the Mona Lisa, in the Louvre Museum.

Leonardo da Vinci's masterpiece is to be moved, so that her room in the Louvre can be renovated, the Paris museum announced June 28.

The half-length portrait of the Florentine noble will only be carried less than "100 paces" to the adjacent Medici gallery during the night of July 16, the museum's director Jean-Luc Martinez said.

The 500-year-old fragile painting has been rarely moved since it was housed in the Louvre's States Room in 1804, and will be protected by bulletproof glass in its temporary home.

The move, part of an immense rolling renovation of the Louvre, is necessary for the world's largest and most visited art museum, which has been struggling to deal with more than 1o million visitors a year, the director said.

For art lovers, there is something more exciting to look forward to as to mark the 500th anniversary of Leonardo da Vinci's death, the Louvre will host a blockbuster da Vinci show beginning on Oct 24, and the Mona Lisa will be returned to her original spot right before that.

Yang Xiaoyu contributed to this story.