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Open Culture suggests a Virtual Tour of the Louvre recognising that Video visits are no substitute, but these days they\u2019re the best we\u2019ve got.<\/h3>\nOpen Culture suggests a Virtual Tour of the Louvre recognising that Video visits are no substitute, but these days they\u2019re the best we\u2019ve got.<\/h3>\n<\/p>\n
Open Culture writes:<\/p>\n
So, you\u2019ve had to put off a trip to Paris, and a long-awaited visit to the\u00a0Louvre<\/a>, which \u201cwill remain closed until further notice,\u201d has been pushed into the indefinite horizon. It could be worse, but the loss of engaging up close with cultural treasures is something we should all grieve in lockdown. Art is so important to human well-being that UK Secretary of Health Matt Hancock argued all doctors in the NHS\u00a0should prescribe gallery visits and other art activities<\/a>\u00a0for everything from mental issues to lung diseases.<\/p>\n As you know from planning your trip (ideally several trips) to the famous museum\u2014first opened to the public in 1793 on the first anniversary of Louis XVI\u2019s imprisonment\u2014you can luxuriate in art for days on end once there, provided you can evade the massive crowds.<\/ins><\/ins><\/ins><\/p>\n The Louvre is immense, with 60,500 square meters of floor space and around 35,000 paintings, sculptures, and other artifacts. But with roughly 10 million visitors per year, who make it the world\u2019s most visited museum, it isn\u2019t easy to find space for contemplation.<\/p>\n Video visits are no substitute, but these days they\u2019re the best we\u2019ve got. If you\u2019re eager to see what you\u2019re missing\u2014or what you could never get to in person even without a pandemic\u2014take a look at the 4K virtual tours here from Wanderlust Travel Videos. Yes, you\u2019ll see the heroic masterworks of Jacques-Louis David, Eugene Delacroix, and Th\u00e9odore G\u00e9ricault. You\u2019ll see the famous glass pyramid, the treasures of Napoleon\u2019s Apartments, and, yes, the\u00a0Mona Lisa<\/em>.<\/p>\n But you\u2019ll also see hundreds and hundreds of works that don\u2019t get the same kind of press, each one named in a timestamped list on the YouTube pages. The experience is admittedly like visiting the museum in person, rushing through each gallery, peering over and around the backs of heads to get a glimpse of the Fra Filippo Lippis, Cimabues, and Mantegnas. But you can mute the constant background chatter and pause and rewind as much as you like.<\/p>\n After touring a good bit of the museum, stroll around the Carrousel Arc de Triomphe, Jardin de l\u2019infante, and the Pont Neuf, above. Judging by the comments, these videos are proving a balm to the psyches of homebound art lovers around the world, whether they\u2019ve been to the Louvre before, just scrapped their travel plans, or know they\u2019ll probably never get the chance to visit.<\/p>\n The virtual opportunity to tour this magnificent collection, or part of it, may refresh our exhausted imaginations.\u00a0It may also soothe the part of us that really misses huge crowds of people all talking at once. Something about the experience, even on the screen, feels so strangely compelling right now you might find yourself hoping if and when you finally get to the Louvre, it\u2019s simply mobbed.<\/p>\n