The virtual Louvre acclaimed by more than 10 million visits

The Louvre, which increased its offer on the internet and social networks during the confinement, was acclaimed. It received 10.5 million visits in 71 days, including a considerable portion from the United States, the museum told AFP.

These visits over a little more than two months (March 12-May 22) are to be compared with the year 2019 for which the largest museum in the world had totaled 14.1 million visits.

While the vagueness reigns over a reopening date, which they hope for in the summer, the museum’s teams are careful to offer numerous virtual resources in English every week. The first usual visitors to the museum are indeed the Americans, before the Chinese.

Non-French speaking public

Attendance peaked especially during the first weeks of confinement with 330,000 visits on average. Almost 90% of visitors were non-French speaking, compared to 77% currently. From March 12 to May 22, 16% of the visits were made from France, compared to 17% from the United States.

For Sophie Grange, Deputy Director of Communication at the Louvre, “the combination of the smartphone and social networks” consecrates the triumph of the virtual image. Large museums have no choice but to make the most of these media to make themselves known to a wider audience, at home.

“We struggle a bit, because the work of art is not an image and we have to walk around it, the work of art would require a real meeting,” she admits to AFP.

Popularity on Instagram

The app offering a virtual reality experience, “Head to head with the Mona Lisa” (downloaded more than 10’500 times) and a new service for children (petitlouvre.louvre.fr), which brings together animated tales corresponding to works from the museum (76,000 visits) worked particularly well.

The Louvre accounts have gained 302,500 subscribers and are today followed by 8.83 million people. The Instagram account is particularly popular, growing very quickly: it has crossed four million subscribers, which makes the Louvre the most followed museum of ancient art on this platform, according to the museum.

It is also on Instagram that Louvre officials freely joined the challenge launched by the Getty and other museums, to reconstitute scenes from their favorite paintings as a family.

The virtual tour of the Cariatides room is a hit on social networks. Just like the podcasts “The Odyssey of the Louvre” for 7-12 year olds, launched in partnership with France Inter: ten episodes on the mysteries, works or major figures of the museum, such as the flight of the Mona Lisa, the victory of Samothrace or even Akhenaton …