The Louvre is ready to improve the collections displayed… Current president of the Louvre Paris, Laurence Des Cars announced this past February 1^st the calendar for the opening of the upcoming Department of Art of Byzantium and Eastern Christianity. An opening planned sometime in 2024-2025, as the president explained during a speech at the Elysée Palace on the occasion of the ceremony giving the Légion d’Honneur to Mgr. Pascal Gollnish – head of the Oeuvre d'Orient. association.

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In all 1,200 works of art are to be exhibited, including several masterpieces, within the Denon wing, between rooms housing the Egyptian, Greek, Etruscan and Roman antiquities and the Department of Islamic Art. “This is a bold, awaited and necessary project”, she explained. A will to open this meaningful department when the Jihadist threat grows bigger in the area and where the preservation of culture and heritage prevails.

Among pieces likely to be found in this brand-new department, many works already displayed at the museum and scattered in several places: the Barberini ivory, leaf representing the triumph of Emperor Anastasius I Dicorus or Justinian I topped with the Christ Blessing, as well as the Emese vase, a liturgical vase made of silver created in Constantinople. Are also expected vestiges of the Coptic Church of Boault, or the lapis-lazuli icon of Saint-Denis’s treasure.

In other words, we are eager to walk this new department at the Louvre!