The Book of Hours of King Francois I has been put on exhibit at the Louvre. Celebrate this momentous occasion at the Louvre while giving a special thanks to the great LVMH. The French have won! It all took place on Feb 15th, when France was able to accumulate 10 Million Euros to acquire the fabled book, which could be said to be a priceless heirloom of the past king.
The Louvre happens to be the owner of one of the biggest art collections. You can expect to see everything from every era that has long since been etched into the records of ages passed. Being a former royal palace, the minimum you await to find is but an abundance of historical artifacts and antiquities, however, it was missing one important piece to complete the grand collection.
We now tell you the story of how The Book of Hours of King Francois I began:
An old Englishman from the 18th century got his hands on this book and was able to keep it in England’s collection for decades. The French wept, wanting to have back their “unique vestige of the treasures of the House of Valois” as the Louvre say. Their dream came true on Oct. 2017, when its current London owner decided to put it on sale. As for the ending of this story, it isn’t as simple as it appears to be. The deal for the Louvre to have it back was to acquire 10 million euros before Feb. 15th.
How did they do that, you ask? Well on Oct. 15th Musée de Louvre launched a campaign “Tous Mécènes!” to help raise the money. This campaign is the crowdfunding type to help enrich the Louvre’s collection.
However, the money collected wasn’t just based on “Tous Mécènes!”. LVMH was generous enough to donate 5 million euros, thereby securing half the acquisition. So, with the help of both, the Louvre was able to pay the full amount and add The Book of Hours of King Francois I to its sizable collection
And this ends the story of how France was able to retrieve back what she considers to be a historical treasure.
Image credit: Louvre Museum
