The British Museum

The British Museum in London, England is a museum of human history and culture. Its collections, which number more than 13 million objects, are amongst the largest and most comprehensive in the world and originate from all continents, illustrating and documenting the story of human culture from its beginning to the present.The British Museum was established in 1753, largely based on the collections of the physician and scientist Sir Hans Sloane. The museum first opened to the public on 15 January 1759 in Montagu House in Bloomsbury, on the site of the current museum building. Its expansion over the following two and a half centuries has resulted in the creation of several branch institutions, the first being the British Museum of Natural History in South Kensington in 1887. Until 1997, when the current British Library building opened to the public, the British Museum was unique in that it housed both a national museum of antiquities and anational library in the same building. Since 2001 the director of the Museum has been Neil MacGregor.

Australian Museum

The Australian Museum has an international reputation in the fields of naturalhistory and indigenous research, community programs and exhibitions. TheMuseum was established in 1827 and is Australia's first museum, with uniqueand extensive collections of natural science and cultural artefacts. TheAustralian Museum is open every day of the year except December 25.

Musee du Louvre

The library of Charles V - installed in one of the towers of the original fortress of Philippe August - was eventually dispersed. François I began a new collection of art with 12 paintings from Italy. These included works by Titian, Raphael, and Leonardo da Vinci, the most famous being theJoconde - or Mona Lisa. The royal collection grew and by the reign of Louis XIII, numbered roughly 200 pieces. Henri II, and Catherine de Médicis continued to enlarge the collection, as did others. When Louis XIV died in 1715, there were 2,500 pieces of art and objects.

Until the Revolution, this collection was strictly for the private pleasure of the Court. Finally, the idea of a museum (originating with Louis XVI) was realized on 10 August 1793, when the Musée de la République opened to the public.

Napoléon greatly increased the collections by exacting tribute from the countries he conquored, but most of these were returned in 1815 after his defeat at Waterloo. Under Louis XVIII the Venus de Milo was aquired (for 6000F) shortly after it was rediscovered on the Island of Melos in 1820.

In 1848 the museum became the property of the State. With an annual budget devoted to aquiring new art, the collections continued to grow. Private donations also augmented the Museum's holdings.

In 1947 the impressionist paintings were moved to the Jeu de Paume andl'Orangerie. (In 1986 these were transfered to the Musée d'Orsay.)

Today, the catalogue lists nearly 300,000 works, only a fraction of which are on display at any one time. Le Grand Louvre - begun in 1981 is transforming the museum once again enlarging it substantially. The Richelieu Wing - which had ``temporarily'' housed part of the Ministry of Finance since the 18th century - was opened in 1993.