The creation of the public institution for cultural cooperation on 4 December and the meeting of its first board of directors are two very important steps in the Louvre-Lens project.

Born from the shared will of the State and the Nord-Pas de Calais region
start a new phase of decentralization, the Louvre-Lens will present
temporary and transversal selection of works from the collections of the
Louvre.

In a building entrusted to the architects of the agency Sanaa, Kazuyo
Sejima and Ryue Nishizawa, winners of the 2010 Pritzker Prize, and a garden
designed by Catherine Mosbach, the Louvre-Lens
all the cultural, artistic and educational activities of the Louvre.

Henri Loyrette, president and director of the Louvre, has been appointed president of
the Public Institution of cultural cooperation, the vice-presidents being Guy
Delcourt, Deputy Mayor of Lens, Jean-Pierre Kucheida, Deputy Mayor of
Liévin, Dominique Dupilet, President of the General Council of the Pas de Calais and
Daniel Percheron, President of the Nord-Pas de Calais Regional Council.
The Louvre-Lens Museum will open to the public in December 2012.