A museum where everything is on show

Rather than concealing its behind-the-scenes facilities (storerooms, technical spaces, etc), the Louvre-Lens will put everything on view: the storerooms will be visible and visitable, restoration work will be carried out in public, etc. This focus on openness and transparency will allow the museum to showcase the various activities and professions on which it depends.

Visible and visitable storerooms

The appeal and symbolic value of the storerooms puts them at the heart of the policy of inviting the public into the museum's "behind-the-scenes" areas. The project is ambitious (genuine storerooms; restorers at work; explanations by specialists; the presence of professionals from all sectors), innovative (virtual tools in addition to real ones) and original, insofar as it will be the first of its kind in France.

The "Behind the Scenes" scheme will be supplemented by a free-access area offering visitors a good view of the storerooms and a virtual visit. As visits to the storerooms will be necessarily restricted, the magic of technology will make them accessible to all.

A space devoted to discovery and interpretation

This innovative space adjoining the storerooms is intended to shed light on the realities of museum life today, providing insight on the "secret life" of the objects in the collections-and on the occupations of the men and women who work in the museum. It will be a veritable forum for exchange between visitors and museum professionals.