People visit the Louvre Museum on the first day of its opening to the public, on December 4, 2012 in Lens, northern France. The Louvre museum opened a new satellite branch among the slag heaps of a former mining town Tuesday in a bid to bring high culture and visitors to one of France's poorest areas. Greeted by a group of former miners in overalls and hardhats, President Francois Hollande inaugurated today the Japanese-designed glass and polished-aluminium branch of the Louvre in the northern city of Lens. The 150 million euro ($196 million) project was 60 percent financed by regional authorities in the Nord-Pas-De-Calais region, on the English Channel and the border with Belgium. AFP PHOTO PHILIPPE HUGUEN
{"Image ImageDescription": "People visit the Louvre Museum on the first day of its opening to the public, on December 4, 2012 in Lens, northern France. The Louvre museum opened a new satellite branch among the slag heaps of a former mining town Tuesday in a bid to bring high culture and visitors to one of France's poorest areas. Greeted by a group of former miners in overalls and hardhats, President Francois Hollande inaugurated today the Japanese-designed glass and polished-aluminium branch of the Louvre in the northern city of Lens.  The 150 million euro ($196 million) project was 60 percent financed by regional authorities in the Nord-Pas-De-Calais region, on the English Channel and the border with Belgium. AFP PHOTO PHILIPPE HUGUEN        (Photo credit should read PHILIPPE HUGUEN/AFP via Getty Images)", "Image Copyright": "2012 AFP"}