Museé du Louvre
Départment des Antiquités Orientales
Paris, France
2003
Room 3 in the Richelieu Wing of the Louvre, which is dedicated to the Code of Hammurabi and Babylonian culture, was designed in an elegant, restrained style the better to present one of the most important cultural documents in the museum’s holdings.
The exhibition design
Examples of Babylonian culture are arranged by category around the Hammurabi stele, an outstanding artifact and centerpiece of the exhibit.
Understated display cases of especially transparent glass show off the archaeological collection, highlighting the individual objects.
Visitors can use mobile magnifying lenses similar to the one used in Rome’s Numismatic Museum to view the Babylonian tablets, learn how they were made and see fine details up close.
The display cases
Goppion designed display cases that seamlessly meld elegance, transparency and dependable airtightness; slim bases conceal all technical equipment.
Different types of coordinated cases—freestanding, wall-mounted, and table-height— perfectly echo the economical, minimalist approach of Wilmotte’s design.
All the cases, even the larger ones, are equipped with opening systems that can be operated by a single staff member. Many of the cases include mechanically operated magnifying lenses to observe tiny details and are themselves small masterpieces of Goppion engineering.
We also recessed one display case into the floor, allowing visitors to walk over a three-dimensional map.
