If you, like us, are sitting at home daydreaming about a trip to Paris, you’ll be happy to learn that you can access some of the city’s most exciting works of art from the comfort of your couch. A new digital database makes available nearly half a million works of art from the enormous collection of the Musée du Louvre.

Jean-Luc Martinez, President-Director of the Musée du Louvre said in a statement, “The Louvre is dusting off its treasures, even the least-known. For the first time, anyone can access the entire collection of works from a computer or smartphone for free, whether they are on display in the museum, on loan, even long term, or in storage.”

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There are now 482,000 works available to view through the digital database. Each entry is accompanied by identifying information including details about the work’s materials and production techniques, the dates and places where it was produced, and the history of the object. It’s a staggeringly large selection of works, which leaves us with an impossible question: where to begin? (We’re browsing some of Leonardo da Vinci’s lesser known works and Camille Pissarro’s sketches and paintings.)

Whether you’re interested in examining a particular work or would like to browse generally and wander virtually through the museum, you can now do so from your laptop or phone. To learn more about the museum itself, check out louvre.fr. For more information on the digital collection and to access and explore the online database, visit collections.louvre.fr. It should tide us over until we can once again hop a plane and stroll through the City of Lights. In the meantime, we’ll also be exploring the South’s best art museums.

What’s at the top of your travel wish list? Have you ever visited the Louvre in person?

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