Louvre museum gets a sister

The first outpost of the famed Louvre museum has opened on the site of a former coal mine about an hour's ride north of Paris.

The Louvre-Lens, in a cutting-edge glass-and-steel building in the non-touristy Nord-Pas de Calais region, made its public debut Dec. 12 with about 200 works on loan from the Paris museum. Probably the best known: Liberty Leading the People by Eugène Delacroix.

The nearly $200 million museum will display rotating works, most of them from the main museum in Paris, which can't show all its treasures at once. Early word from French officials is that the Louvre star, Mona Lisa, won't travel.

French tourism officials hope the Louvre-Lens will stimulate tourism; the museum is offering free admission in its opening year.

Information: visit louvrelens.fr