The Louvre Museum announces exceptional support from AXA Mutuelles d’Assurance
January 13, 2025
published at 8:45 AM CET
AXA Mutuelles d’Assurance have become a Founding Patron
of the Louvre Museum by supporting the creation of the Department of Byzantine Arts and Eastern Christianities, the ninth conservation department of the Louvre Museum, which will open its doors to the public in 2027.
This particularly decisive patronage will significantly enhance the success of the fundraising campaign launched by the museum and still ongoing, for the design and creation of this new department, unprecedented in its scale.
The creation of the Department of Byzantine Arts and Eastern Christianities is an opportunity to highlight the wealth of civilizations that the current divisions of the Louvre Museum only partially address. Its ambition is to bring together more than 20,000 works, from the origins of the Christian image to the 20th century, a collection that will be enriched with new acquisitions. Thanks to an ambitious scenography entrusted to the Franco-American group WHY-BGC gathered around Kulapat Yantrasast, the tour will present a new story inviting visitors to admire and understand the masterpieces of Byzantine art and to approach the wealth of influences and connections with the Arts of Islam and Roman Antiquities.
By supporting this project, AXA Mutuelles d’Assurance are joining forces with the Louvre Museum’s objective of offering a large number of visitors simple and education access to understanding the significance of this key moment in the history of art, at the crossroads of multiple influences and successive crises, and which resonates with debates of our times. This department will also contribute to raising awareness on the importance of saving this threatened heritage.
Laurence des Cars
President and Director of the Louvre Museum
I would like to express our deep gratitude to the AXA Mutuelles d’Assurances and the AXA Group as a whole for their unwavering commitment to the Louvre for over twenty years. This support has been essential to the acquisition of many national treasures that have joined the national collections. Today, the decisive contribution of AXA allows us to confidently prepare for the opening of the Department of Byzantine Arts and Eastern Christianity, in order to share with as many people as possible the exceptional wealth of Byzantine civilization, at the crossroads of cultures and continents.
Thomas Buberl
Chief Executive Officer of AXA
We are pleased to partner with the Louvre for this rare and exceptional event: the creation of this new department, the protection and transmission of heritage, especially when it is threatened, is at the heart of our purpose –
Acting for human progress by protecting what matters.It was therefore natural for us to support this project which will offer a privileged access to an essential and little-known part of our universal culture within the largest museum in the world.
Philippe Guérand
Chairman of the AXA Mutuelles d'Assurance
The Louvre and the AXA Mutuelles d’Assurance share common values: to protect, disseminate and transmit to present and future generations. Our strong and exceptional commitment reinforces this common DNA, and we are proud to participate in this new major cultural project, which is part of our patronage policy. We will be keen to promote it to many audiences.
A historic patron of the Louvre for over 20 years, AXA’s support has until now focused mainly on the acquisition of exceptional pieces, with ten masterpieces from the history of art, including Houdon’s La Vestale, Nicolas Poussin’s La Fuite en Egypte, Le Nain’s Le Niement de Saint-Pierre, Jean Malouel’s La Pietà, Joseph Vernet’s La Vue d’Avignon and La Table de Breteuil known as the Table de Teschen
. AXA also committed in 2019 to the restoration of the Salle des Etats and the Leonardo da Vinci
exhibition.
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