The Louvre comes to China with exhibit on its history

The Inventions of Louvre exhibition in Beijing features French sculptor Pierre Julien's Statue of Jean de la Fontaine. [Photo by Jiang Dong/China Daily]

The Louvre's historical significance as the residence of royalty is comparable to Beijing's Palace Museum, president-director Jean-Luc Martinez says.

He hopes the exhibition enables the French icon to "walk closer to Chinese audiences, who contributed the second-largest population of its international visitors in 2016".

The 224-year-old institution reported a 15 percent drop in visitors last year because of terrorist threats and a four-day closure following the flooding of the Seine River.

About 70 percent of the 7.3 million guests were from outside France. The top five source countries were the United States, China, Britain, Spain and Italy.

Martinez took over the museum in 2013. His focuses have included making more of the collection accessible and improving visitors' experiences.

Patrons can book tickets online and select entrance times, so they can enter within 30 minutes instead of lining up for hours.

The Louvre offers a Chinese guide map, and more introductory booklets will be translated, he says.

The Louvre also operates a Chinese-language website and a WeChat account.

Martinez hopes for expanded cooperation with Chinese counterparts.

"The Louvre houses different categories of art overseen by various curatorial departments," he says.

"Now that good museums are being built in China, we hope that the Louvre collection can tour other Chinese cities and be accessible to more viewers."