The Louvre museum
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France’s largest art gallery – with one of the most impressive selections of sculpture, jewelry and fine art in the world – has put its entire collection of 48,000 pieces online. So you can now switch from Da Vinci’s Mona Lisa to the ancient Greek sculpture of Venus of Milo via Eugène Delacroix Liberty Leading the People, surely one of the most important works of France depicting Liberty holding the triumphant flag on the victorious battle scene of the French Revolution.
Normally, the world-famous gallery attracts 10 million visitors a year but has been closed since October 30 in an attempt to contain the pandemic. Its freshly laundered and newly designed website now allows users to browse the museum’s eight departments – as well as works of art that would typically be invisible, locked in a warehouse – and is available in French, English, Spanish and Chinese.
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One of the galleries of the Louvre museum
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President and CEO Jean-Luc Martinez said: “The Louvre dust off its treasures, even the lesser known. For the first time, anyone can access the entire collection of works for free from a computer or smartphone. The magnificent cultural heritage of the Louvre is just a click away.
The Louvre joins the British Museum, the State Hermitage Museum in St. Petersburg, Russia and the Guggenheim and the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York, offering virtual tours during the Covid-19 pandemic.
Martinez added: “This is a step in preparation for several years with the aim of serving the general public as well as researchers. Accessibility is at the heart of our mission. ‘
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The platform also includes the Delacroix museum, managed by the Louvre, as well as sculptures from the neighboring Tuileries gardens and works recovered from Germany since the end of the war in 1945 which are waiting to be returned to the families of which they were. issues. looted. The museum announced earlier this month that it would step up efforts to restore items looted from Jewish families by the Nazi regime.
Discover the Louvre collection here: collections.louvre.fr
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