Paris' famous Louvre museum and gallery is set to open a satellite gallery in Lens, Northern France next week.
The Louvre-Lens will exhibit more than 200 artworks by masters including Botticelli, Raphael, Poussin, Rembrandt, Goya, Ingres and Delacroix at its 50-acre site, situated in a small mining town near Lille.
Artworks will be displayed chronologically with different cultures and civilizations juxtaposed so classical Greek works might sit next to pieces from the Persian empire or Pharaonic Egypt.
Unlike traditional museums, storerooms and restoration rooms will be visible and open to the public.
Built in the heart of Lens on an old mining site, the museum cost 150m euro (US$196.02m, £121.80m) and was designed by American and Japanese architects and a French landscape designer. It emulates the layout of the Louvre Paris with a main glass pavilion surrounded by four rectangular buildings.
Digital visitor guides and a museum app will be part of the visitor experience with communications company Orange collaborating with the Louvre and the Nord-Pas-de-Calais Regional Council to develop an interface for the public.
Guides will include 3D visualisations of the galleries and commentaries from curators and lecturers.
Work is also due to begin on the Louvre Abu Dhabi museum in early 2013.
The museum is to be located on the Saadiyat Island's Cultural District complex, which will also feature a Frank Gehry-designed Guggenheim Museum; a performing arts centre by architect Zaha Hadid; the Zayed National Museum by London-based architects Foster & Partners and a number of luxury hotels.
To read more about the Abu Dhabi Louvre,
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