The centre was built at a cost of €42 million to contain what one expert called “the memory of humanity” – 250,000 paintings, drawings, statues and other objects from across the world and spanning nine millennia.
The works belong to the Louvre but unlike the French museum’s stars — Mona Lisa, the Venus de Milo or the Winged Victory of Samothrace — they are held out of sight in storage rooms.
Now, this literally priceless stored collection – the Louvre says it would be impossible to estimate its worth – is being transferred to a modern conservation centre in Liévin, northern France, where it will be held for future generations.
The operation, without precedent in the Louvre’s history, has thrown light on to an
