Inside the Louvre's secret copy workshop in Paris

The Ateliers d'Art de la Réunion des musées nationaux, located in the Saint-Denis district of Paris, are the Louvre's sculpture and calcography workshops, founded during the French Revolution alongside the museum. Their mission is to preserve and commercially exploit the museum's collection by maintaining molds and matrices and producing faithful reproductions of ancient works. These copies are commissioned by public institutions—for example, to replace outdoor statues with replicas for safekeeping—and by private clients worldwide. Clients include contemporary artist Jeff Koons and major corporations like Disney. The blog Messyness Chic recently visited the Ateliers and published extensive documentation, including photographs.