Inventing Le Louvre exhibition at Hong Kong Heritage Museum tells eye-opening story of the Parisian institution
Exhibition includes Egyptian and Near Eastern antiquities, Napoleonic artwork, and Italian masterpieces, and marks 25 years of Le French May festival and 20th anniversary of Hong Kong’s handover
“Inventing Le Louvre: From Palace to Museum over 800 Years” is a show of force by one of the greatest museums in the world. It also usefully provides a refresher course on French history – and coincidentally comes after French citizens once again exercised their right to oust the political establishment.
The exhibition at the Hong Kong Heritage Museum features more than 120 pieces taken from all major departments of the Paris institution. Together, they tell the story of how the Louvre has been moulded by pivotal events in the country over the past 827 years.
The Louvre began life as a medieval riverside fortress in 1190, but as the city expanded beyond its original walls, the structure slowly lost its military value. In the 14th century, reigning monarch Charles V decided to turn it into a grand, royal residence, having deemed the location safer than his existing dwellings in the centre of the city following setbacks at the hands of the English during the Hundred Years’ War.
Francois I, the French king who loved Italian Renaissance art, demolished the old medieval building in the 16th century and then, later, rebuilt it in the Renaissance style. He convinced Leonardo da Vinci to move to France, and to bring with him the artist’s prized painting of a certain Lisa Gherardini, which ended in the royal collection.
