The new website of the Musée du Louvre

The musée du Louvre launched a new version of its web site in November 2011. With more than 3000 pages, www.louvre.fr gathers the most comprehensive information available on the palace and its works. The role of this new site is to make the museum accessible in every sense of the term, both physically and intellectually; at the same time it aims to be one of the most important links between the Louvre and its audience.
This new version offers a information architecture in order to, in particular, better serve the "novice" visitor who might be a little lost face in the size of the museum and its collections. The sitemap has been simplified and flattened, the masterpieces of the collections are brought to the foreground, the tools to help with preparation for the visit (practical information, maps, courses, reservations and online ticket purchasing…) are numerous and accessible with a single click.

The site will continue to offer many rich resources to the visitor who wishes to deepen his knowledge in the field of the history of art as well. A great dictionary of the history of art, a module for the identification of recurring characters and scenes (mythology, religion, ancient Egypt etc. ), will be added to the existing collections (such as "a closer look"). Because the site is also intended to accompany the teaching of the arts at school, modules specifically intended for student use will also be offered online, including a module for the analysis of three-dimensional works to understand composition, different techniques, the importance of format, of color, light etc.

RSS, sharing, recommendations, and an easy-to-navigate calendar are also available for most regular visitors to the site and the Museum. Visually, the site highlights more photos and videos, which helps us to give a much more immediate view of our programming. Video is also a way to spread content virally on the web. Louvre.fr indeed is not an isolated territory but one element in a much broader system integrating networks, blogs, community platforms and more.