Lens, an industrial town in the Pas-de-Calais region of
northern France, is aiming to become the next Bilbao. The first step in
such a transformation happened last month, when a branch of the Louvre
opened on what had been a former hilltop mine yard.The 50-acre site, which was abandoned in the 1960s,
now has gardens and hangar-like
exhibition spaces designed by the Japanese architectural firm Sanaa. The Lens Louvre will not have a permanent collection; it will instead host a rotating selection of 200 works from Paris spanning millenniums. Biannual exhibitions will complement shows at the Louvre in Paris. It is conceivable to take in both Louvres as part of a weekend: Lens is about an hour and 10 minutes from Paris on the TGV rail line.