PARIS: Short of something to do at around 4am on a weekend in Paris late in February? How about a (free) visit to the Paris Louvre museum’s show-stopping exhibition of the Italian Renaissance master Leonardo da Vinci, hailed by critics as the most significant display of his works in years?

The Louvre announced on Sunday that for its final days of opening on Friday Feb 21, Saturday 22 and Sunday 23, the exhibition would be open all night as well as for its regular daytime hours.

“For visitors it will be a unique chance to see or see again all these works by this genius of the Renaissance and in a particular atmosphere at night,” the head of the Louvre, Jean-Luc Martinez, told the Journal du dimanche newspaper.

Entry will be a free but a reservation made online from this Tuesday will be obligatory. Over 30,000 tickets will be up for grabs.

The exhibition, which opened in late October, marks 500 years since the death of Leonardo in the historic town of Amboise in the Loire Valley on May 2, 1519.

It groups 162 works including loans by Queen Elizabeth II of Britain from the Royal Collection, the British Museum, the Hermitage of Saint Petersburg and the Vatican.

Published in Dawn, February 10th, 2020