The Art Newspaper: The Louvre’s department of Byzantine and Eastern Christian art is taking shape—at last

The Art Newspaper marks the progress of the Louvre’s new Department of Byzantine and Eastern Christian Art, which WHY Architecture and its Paris-based partner BGC are designing for opening in 2027–2028. The 2,200-square-metre trail through 20–30 rooms in the Denon wing will hold nearly 20,000 works spanning the onset of Christianity to the early-20th century, bridging Roman antiquities and Islamic art.

For Kulapat Yantrasast, the aim is not to dictate a route. As he tells the paper, the design seeks to highlight “the multiplicity of cultural worlds at play” and give individual pieces context.

The project — selected after international competition in September 2024 — represents the Louvre’s most significant museographic overhaul in over a decade.