Will the Louvre Flood?

The Seine has risen 16 feet and risks overflowing its banks and inundating the world’s most famous museum.

Pascal Rossignol / Reuters

The Louvre in Paris will be closed Friday so workers can move art from its lower levels as the threat of flooding becomes more real.

Days of rain in France have caused the Seine, which runs through Paris and past the Louvre, to rise 16 feet and overflow its banks, inundating parts of the French capital. The museum holds some of the world’s more treasured art, including the Mona Lisa.

The art being moved was kept in underground storage, though that part of the museum has anti-flood pumps and waterproof doors, France24  reported. The Louvre has an emergency-flood plan already in place, and earlier this year as it practiced the drill, it evacuated its underground section in a day. It has also plans to permanently remove many of the artworks in the underground levels to a site in northern France by 2019.