Layout of the Grand
Louvre
The Grand Louvre Project represents over
fifteen years of work (1981-1998). Its ambition is at once museological,
architectural and urban, since it involves enlarging and modernising the Louvre
Museum and the Decorative Arts Museum, setting off the palace to advantage and
opening up the whole towards the city.
The Etablissement Public du Grand Louvre (E.P.G.L.) was created in 1983 to be in charge of the project as a whole. It will be required to oversee all the work right up to its completion in 1998, when the renovation work on the historical areas of the museum will be concluded.
The budget of 6.9 billion francs, which is financed by the Government, provided the means to realise a project which will enable the exhibition areas of the museum to be doubled in size, to 60,000 m2, to increase the scientific, technical and administrative working areas fivefold, and the reception and service areas intended for the public (documentation points, rest areas, cafés) thirteenfold.
