The Musée du Louvre ready to expand its collections... On February 1, Laurence Des Cars, the museum's current president, announced the timetable for the opening of the institution's future department, focusing on the arts of Byzantium and Eastern Christendom. The opening is scheduled for"2024-2025", as the museum's director explained in a speech at the Élysée Palace, on the occasion of the presentation of the Légion d'honneur to Mgr Pascal Gollnish, director of the Oeuvre d'Orient association.
A total of 1,200 works are to be displayed, including several masterpieces, in theDenon wing, between the rooms housing Egyptian, Greek, Etruscan and Roman antiquities and the Islamic arts department. "It's an ambitious, long-awaited and necessary project", she explained in her speech. The desire to open this department makes perfect sense, at a time when the jihadist threat is growing stronger in the region, and the safeguarding of culture and heritage is paramount.
Among the pieces to be included in this brand-new department are numerous works already present in the museum, and scattered throughout the building: theBarberini ivory, a leaf depicting the triumph of the emperors Anastasius and Justinian, surmounted by a blessing Christ, as well as the vase of Emesa, a silver liturgical vase created in Constantinople. We also expect to see the remains of the Coptic church of Boault, and thelapis lazuli icon from the treasure trove of Saint-Denis.
In short, we can't wait to stroll through this new department at the Musée du Louvre!
Location
Louvre Museum
musée du louvre
75001 Paris 1
Access
Metro Palais Royal - Musée du Louvre
