American group helps the Louvre speak English
November 5, 2009
Tens of thousands of pieces in the Louvre collection are now researchable in English, thanks to the American Friends of the Louvre.
Not being able to read French is no longer an obstacle to poring over the entire collection of the Louvre. English-speaking visitors to Louvre.fr will now be able to do more than just check on current exhibitions. The museum has made an English-language version of its online database, cataloguing the entire collection of Louvre, available on its Web site, louvre.fr. The enormous undertaking was the passion project of the group American Friends of the Louvre, which provided a $380,000 grant for the Anglophone database. The database, called Atlas, will provide information on 22,000 works of art from the Louvre by the end of 2009, as well as high-resolution images and the locations of works and galleries within the museum. These include over 3300 paintings, 4000 Greek and Roman antiquities, 5500 works of decorative art, and much more. The collection of works on the English version representsabout 80 percent of the works available onthe French-language version of Atlas, which catalogs 26,000 of the 35,000 works on permanent display at the Louvre. New images are currently being added to the database, which is constantly updated.
American Friends of the Louvre (AFL),a non-profit, was founded in December 2002 to strengthen ties between the Louvre and its American public. Its primary goals are to support the Louvre in its efforts to improve educational tools and visiting conditions, particularly for American and other English-speaking visitors, which include the translation of labels and Atlas, the online database. AFL also promotes collaborations between the Louvre and American institutions through the development of cultural activities in the U.S., such as exhibitions, educational programs and professional and scholarly exchanges. Lastly, AFL participates in the financing of Louvre projects, such as renovations of galleries, restorations of antiquities, fellowships, and educational programs both in France and the U.S.
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