You do not know what to do during this new weekend of containment? You can for example offer yourself a tour of the Louvre, while staying at home. The famous museum is, like many other establishments throughout France, closed until further notice due to the coronavirus pandemic.
But the Louvre still wanted to give internet users the opportunity to explore its corridors, from home, through a series of virtual visits. Educational videos, especially aimed at children, are also available on the museum's website. Dominique de Font-Réaulx, director of mediation and cultural programming at the Louvre, explained this initiative on Friday morning on Europe 1.
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"That everyone can have access to the Louvre"
"Very quickly, when we knew that we were going to be confined, we told ourselves that the website should continue to be this window open to the world that is the Louvre, and that everyone can have access to it" , says Dominique de Font-Réaulx. In particular, the most visited museum in the world offers a virtual tour of the Little Gallery (link available here).
Internet users can thus zoom in on the works and have access to explanations, as during a traditional visit:
The work Self - portrait by Nicolas Poussin. (Photo @ petitegalerie.louvre.com)
Online courses
The Louvre also provides art enthusiasts with free online courses (MOOCs, "Massive open online course" in English). "There are free lessons around our little gallery, which is an art and cultural education gallery. There is an exciting course on the relation to movement, the way in which the artists expressed it", cites as an example Dominique de Font-Réaulx.
Videos of about an hour also make it possible to obtain explanations of works, told by "specialists and curators by entering inside the works themselves".
Videos for children
For the little ones, videos are also available to introduce them to the works of the Louvre. "It works well for everyone, from 7 to 107 years old," says Dominique de Font-Réaulx. An example with this video on The Raft of the Medusa , the famous painting by Théodore Géricault:
Other museums, such as the Pompidou center or the Quai Branly center, also offer virtual tours on their website. Enough to refresh the mind and cultivate, while staying at home.