The innovative Louvre-Lens, opened in 2012, showcases hundreds of treasures from Paris' venerable Musée du Louvre in state-of-the-art exhibition spaces. The centrepiece, the 120m-long Galerie du Temps, displays a semi-permanent collection of 200-plus objects from the dawn of civilisation to the mid-1800s. Unlike the original Louvre, the collection here can easily be taken in and savoured in a single afternoon.
The glass-walled Pavillon de Verre is used for themed temporary exhibits that change three times a year. For kids 11 and under there are 1½-hour art workshops (in French). A third Louvre site opened in Abu Dhabi in 2017.
Free half-hourly shuttle buses link the Louvre-Lens with Lens' train station. Unless you're dining at the museum's gourmet restaurant (or you have a disability) it's not possible to park onsite; the nearest car parks are 400m west on rue Paul Bert or Bollaert-Delelis Stadium, 1km east.
