Preface to the third edition, 2012

Preface to the third edition, 2012

In 2017, The Louvre Abu Dhabi opened.  But the museum did not have enough objects to fill its display cases. This was expected all along, and the Paris Louvre had prepared 300 objects to travel to Abu Dhabi for the museum’s opening. Of the 300 objects, 22 were affected by the journey in very strange ways: the objects’ outline remained intact, but their façade (or skin) was that of another object. Needless to say, this puzzled all concerned, and the event remains unexplained. Here, I present photographs of the objects made soon after their arrival in Abu Dhabi.