Louvre Lens
These shimmering boxes have been the centre of attention in Lens, an unadorned city in northern France, for the past few months: here, in a former coal-mining district, the country’s most renowned museum is presenting some of its masterpieces. Five of the region’s cities competed for the museum project, and Lens, a city with a population of 35 000 that – thanks to its location on the TGV route – is well connected to Paris, Lille and London, was selected. In 2005 the architecture firm SANAA won the international competition with a design that captivated the architectural world with its weightlessness.
