Louvre-Lens

The Louvre -Lens is an art museum in the northern French town of Lens in the Pas -de -Calais. It was opened on December 4, 2012 by the French President François Hollande and opened to the public on 12 December 2012. The entry in the first year was free.

205 works of art are on display, including Eugène Delacroix's Liberty Leading the People work as well as other exhibits from all departments of the Louvre from the 3rd millennium BC to 1850.

Building

The museum is located on the abandoned Zeche No. 9, which promoted 1886-1980 coal. The site is 20 acres in size and is located about two kilometers west of the city center. The construction costs are specified with 150 million euros, of which 60 percent are supported by the Region Nord-Pas- de -Calais. There are five parts of the building, including in the center of the 68 x 55 meters large entrance hall. To the left there is a building for temporary exhibitions and a 300 persons in an auditorium, the right of a 130 meter long main exhibition building and another building for the permanent exhibition, both with skylight.

The building was designed by architects Kazuyo Sejima and Ryue Nishizawa of the architectural firm SANAA. The competition began in 2005; 120 architects from all over the world had participated.

A landscaped garden of Catherine Mosbach is to frame the building. It is hoped that the house contributes similar to the Centre Pompidou- Metz or the Guggenheim Museum Bilbao for tourist revival of the region lagging in the former North French coalfield. This is a UNESCO World Heritage Site since 2012. In the first three months, the museum was visited by around 300,000 people.

Film

• Louvre - Lens - The Gallery of the time. Documentary, France, 2012, 52 min, written and directed by Michaël Gaumnitz, production: Arte France, AMIP, Musée du Louvre, German First broadcast: December 16, 2012 in arte, summary with video excerpt of arte.