One of the world’s largest museums, The Louvre, has updated its website (collections.louvre.fr) to make nearly half a million objects available to the public free of charge. The website is also available in French, English, Spanish and Chinese, allowing users to “immerse themselves” in tens of thousands of treasures of human civilization without leaving Home during the Epidemic.
The Louvre said in a press release on Friday (26) that the website collections.louvre.fr brings together for the first Time all the objects in the collection, creating a new database of 482,000 items, more than 3/4 of which are accompanied by information and images. The site categorizes the collection by category and theme, supports advanced search functions, and offers interactive maps to optimize the online browsing experience.
According to Louvre staff, the move comes against the backdrop of a year-long closure of the Louvre due to the “Chinese Communist virus” (Wuhan New Crown Pneumonia, COVID-19) epidemic, which has led to a surge in visitors to its main website (louvre.fr). The main website also underwent a major update during this reform process. For example, the three themes of “Services for visitors”, “Discoveries” and “Information and events” provide an immersive experience through images and videos, allowing users to feel like they are in the Louvre’s various The three themes, “Discoveries”, “Discoveries” and “Information”, provide an immersive experience through images and videos, allowing users to feel like they are in the various halls of the Louvre.
Jean-Luc Martinez, director of the Louvre, told AFP that “the preparation of the online presentation began several years ago to better serve the public and researchers. Our central mission is to make access to art unobstructed.”
“Today, the Louvre presents all the objects in its collection, including those lesser-known treasures, to the people. With a single click on a computer or a cell phone, the treasures of civilization are instantly available.”
AFP reports that the new database includes not only the collections on display in the museum, but also those in storage, including those housed in the northern French city of Levant. The platform also includes the Louvre-run Musée de la Croix, sculptures from the nearby Tuileries Gardens and artworks that returned from Germany after the war ended in 1945. The returned artworks are awaiting return to the families to which they belonged when they were looted.
Earlier this month, the Louvre announced an intensified effort to study Jewish art looted during the Nazi era and return it to its rightful owners at an early date. It is estimated that about 1 percent of the artworks may have been looted.
According to the report, the Louvre is identifying the provenance of all 13,943 artworks that came into the museum between 1933 and 1945, and hopes to complete the vast project within five years.
Martinez said, “The Louvre will not hide anything because the reputational risk is too great.” He said the next generation will ask where the Louvre’s collection came from, “and how will we respond then? Only to produce historical documents and let the facts speak for themselves.”
The Louvre was built by King Philippe II in the late 12th century in the first district of central Paris, originally as a defensive wall. The Louvre was opened to the public on August 10, 1793.
Today, the Louvre has eight permanent galleries: the Egyptian Antiquities Collection, the Oriental Antiquities Collection, the Ancient Greek Collection, the Islamic Art Gallery, the Medieval, Renaissance and Modern Art Gallery, the Art and Sculpture Gallery, the Oil Paintings Gallery and the Art Paintings Gallery. The Louvre is one of the four largest museums in the world, alongside the British Museum, the Russian Museum and the New York Museum, with a collection of nearly 35,000 objects ranging from prehistory to the 21st century and an exhibition area of nearly 60,000 square meters.
The Louvre is the most visited museum in the world, having received millions of visitors each year, more than 10 million in 2018 and nearly three-quarters of the 9.6 million visitors in 2019 from abroad. The first four months of the closure cost the Louvre more than $45 million in lost admissions.
According to experts, the Louvre’s annual operating budget of 250 million euros is covered by the French government to the tune of 100 million euros ($112 million), and the Louvre must make up the rest itself.
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