Louvre

Greece will play a central role in the new Byzantine and Eastern Christian Art department in the Louvre in Paris, its director has said.

Laurence des Cars arrived in Athens on Thursday to present the new department, which will be inaugurated in 2027.

After a prominent archaeologist said he would launch a campaign to bring the Mona Lisa back to Italy, one of the foremost Leonardo da Vinci experts said the painting should, in fact, remain in France.

The Louvre museum in Paris announced on April 23 that it planned to organize yoga and sport sessions in its famed galleries as part of a city-wide cultural program ahead of the Olympics.

The historic cup won by Spyros Louis, the first marathon winner of the first modern Olympic Games in 1896, which was inspired and designed by Michel Breal, will travel this year to the Louvre Museum in Paris.

The cup was acquired at an international auction by the Stavros Niarchos Foundation (SNF) in order to make it accessible to the general public.

Two protesters on Jan 28 hurled pumpkin soup at the bullet-proof glass protecting Leonardo da Vinci's "Mona Lisa" in Paris, demanding the right to "healthy and sustainable food."

The action, which comes as French farmers protest across the country, is the latest in a string of similar attacks against artworks to demand more action to protect the planet.

American actress Zendaya poses in front of the Winged Victory of Samothrace at the Louvre Museum in Paris to promote French luxury beauty products company Lancome. Her photo shoot is part of a trend allowing museums to be used for marketing purposes.

Italy has demanded the restitution of seven antiquities which it believes were looted before being sold by dealers to the Louvre in Paris in the 1980s and 90s, the museum said on July 14.

The Louvre in Paris is hosting 16 works of art, including 1,500-year-old Byzantine icons, from a museum in Kiev in order to protect them from the war, it said yesterday.

Louvre Museum in Paris, the world's most visited cultural institution, will limit visitor numbers by up to a third to ensure a more "comfortable visit."

The cap is at 30,000 guests "in order to facilitate a comfortable visit and ensure optimal working conditions for museum staff," said a recent statement made by the museum.

With Asian visitors still largely absent, major Paris museums struggled to regain pre-pandemic numbers in 2022, despite a huge recovery from the previous year, official figures showed on Jan. 5.

The Louvre, the world's most visited museum, welcomed 7.8 million people last year, a 170-percent increase on 2021, but still down 19 percent on 2019.