The Mediterranean World from the Collections of the Musée du Louvre exhibition co-hosted by the National Museum of China (NMC) and the Musée du Louvre of France was opened by Chinese Minister of Culture Cai Wu on October 29 in Beijing. Lv Zhangshen, director of NMC, and Jean-Luc Martinez, director of the Louvre, addressed the opening ceremony.

According to Lv Zhangshen, the exhibition is the first collaboration between the NMC and the Louvre. As the representative museums of both countries, their cooperation not only serves in commemoration of the establishment of diplomatic relations between the two countries spanning 50 years but also provides an important experience for a harmonious coexistence and mutual development of countries with different cultures and social systems by presenting the collision, communication and integration among the different cultures of the Mediterranean world.

Jean-Luc Martinez stated that the Louvre has the largest Mediterranean art collection in France. According to his introduction, the exhibition displays in chronological order the development of civilizations in important historic periods around this region. With Martinez working as the curator, the exhibition includes a selection of important antiques from ancient civilizations like Egypt, Phoenicia, Carthage, Greece and Rome.. The exhibition showcases for the first time the civilizations of the ancient Greek language family and the Latin language family on the east and west coasts of the Mediterranean Sea; and the civilizations of Islam and Christianity from the north and south of the Mediterranean Sea in their entirety, presenting a complete picture of the rise and fall of different civilizations in this region.

The exhibition displays 280 antiques including stone carvings, pottery, gold and silver wares, oil paintings and sketchings and is divided into six sections including mosaic art, marble portraits, and statues. The exhibition will run through February 10, 2014.