The Louvre Museum, in Paris, France, is partnering with Nintendo, the Japan-based electronics company, to offer its visitors a new viewing experience at the museum.
The world’s most visited art museum and former main residence of the French monarchy is offering a new set of computer consoles – in place of handheld audio devices – to its visitors for a more entertaining art viewing experience. Made by Nintendo, these portable handsets offer a small screen and around 35 hours of audio content in 700 different commentaries, including art lectures and interviews with museum curators. The devices will be offering additional high-resolution images of the famous artwork on display at the museum, including Leonardo Da Vinci’s Mona Lisa and the ancient Greek sculpture the Venus de Milo.
The devices will also offer various tours, guiding visitors and art enthusiasts through the museum’s labyrinth of hallways, rooms and chambers, to the most important of the artworks on display. The Masterpieces trail will take visitors through around 35,000 works of art, and a second trail will guide them through a collection of ancient Egyptian antiques and artefacts.
Nintendo’s chief games designer, Shigeru Miyamoto, said in a visit to the museum, ‘I was here for a few hours and by the end I had no idea where I was.’ He feels that designing the software for the new electronic console has given him a much better understanding of the museum floors.
The consoles are not part of the museum’s admission ticket, but may be rented additionally, for a fee of €5.00 per person.
