資料來源：http://chinapost.com.tw/guidepost/topics/default.asp?id=2916&next=1&sub=25
The Louvre has embarked on an ambitious quest — opening a US$196 million (approximately NT$5.7 billion) extension in a former coal mining town in northern France that has an unemployment rate nearly three times the national average. The "Louvre-Lens" project — housed in a futuristic glass and aluminum complex — opened recently in an attempt to silence critics who say French art is limited to the country's Parisian elite.
Proponents say the complex will offer culture to the less cultivated provinces and give residents a unique opportunity to see high-end art. But for all its trumpeting of uniting everyone through art, the slick museum building instead highlights the contrast with Lens' depressed city center, which is riddled with closed shops, abandoned houses and a boarded-up cinema.
To locals, the Louvre's gesture to bring culture to their forgotten city was a bit patronizing. "Why do we need a museum and culture here? We need money and jobs," said resident Amandine Grossemy, 26. "We weren't consulted on whether we wanted a museum," said cafe worker Veronique Roszak, 53.
Officials hope Louvre-Lens can help transform the city the way the Guggenheim Museum in Bilbao, Spain turned a struggling industrial area into a hot travel destination. Lens was picked precisely because it was in such need of a reversal of fortune. "It's important, as Lens is a territory that has suffered greatly," said Louvre director Henri Loyrette.
Lens was a coal-mining city for decades. But when the mines closed — the last one in 1986 — the area was plunged into poverty. "France abandoned us when the coal stopped, and we became a ghost town," said regional president Daniel Percheron.
The statistics agree: Lens, one of the country's poorest cities, has an unemployment rate of 24 percent, well above the national average of 9 percent. The museum, designed by a Japanese firm, transformed a former coal mine into a grand, verdant space that boasts 6,600 trees, 26,000 shrubs and a glistening infrastructure of sleek aluminum.
The inside is equally impressive, with two sprawling exhibition spaces teeming with works as diverse as ancient Cycladic sculptures, Egyptian diorite statues, 11th century Italian church mosaics and Leonardo da Vinci's restored masterpiece, "The Virgin and Saint Anne." However, it's not clear whether this will be enough to attract 700,000 visitors in the first year and increase the city's economic output by 10 percent in 10 years, as officials hope.
資料來源：http://chinapost.com.tw/guidepost/topics/default.asp?id=2916&next=1&sub=25
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