The Louvre City (DVD)


Mar 20, 2012

This well done documentary tells us about the inner workings of Paris’ most famous museum, the Louvre.  Most museum visitors don’t know that only a very small fraction of any museum’s collection is on a display; usually under 10%.  The viewers get to take a behind the scenes tour of immense underground storage spaces, the catacombs beneath the main palace structure, which tourists never get to see.   The movie has very little dialog as we follow just a few of hundreds of employees throughout the course of a working day.  We get to witness how the art exhibit is put together by museum curators, how restorers and conservationists focus on each dot of paint, curators argue over painting placement, archivists struggle to keep track of all of the items in the vast sub-levels beneath the museum consisting of miles of hallways and hundreds of employees. We see the footage of workmen hang paintings and dragging heavy ancient sculptures around, and the cafeteria staff preparing food to feed them all. The tour of the museum includes a look at the museum's most celebrated painting, Leonardo da Vinci's Mona Lisa. The documentary is intended for every art and high culture enthusiast who is interested in everyday operations of a museum.

Reviewed by Library Staff