WebMuseum
| Formerly | Initial name was “Virtual Louvre” in March 1994. Later changed to "WebLouvre" in July 1994. In 1995, changed to "WebMuseum. |
|---|---|
Type of site | Virtual museum |
| Available in | Originally French, then changed to English |
| Founded | 1994 |
| Country of origin | France |
| Founder(s) | Nicolas Pioch |
| URL | www |
| Registration | None |
| Current status | Live |
The WebMuseum, formerly known as "Virtual Louvre" and "WebLouvre", was an early art-related website.
The WebMuseum was founded by Nicolas Pioch in France in 1994, while he was a student. It is one of the earliest examples of a virtual museum. The site won the 1994 Best of the Web award for the "Best Use of Multiple Media" at CERN WWW conference.
When the actual Louvre became aware of the original WebLouvre's existence, it was forced to change its name to the WebMuseum. Pioch then eventually transferred the site’s database to the University of North Carolina and the Tokyo University of Science. Later, Pioch changed the language of the site to English.
However, many mirror sites were established throughout the world (including websites located in Brazil, Hungary, Singapore, Mexico, Norway, Poland, Russia, UK and the United States), making it impossible to eradicate it entirely. The mirror sites provides a resource of, at that time, high resolution art images and information for users across the world, although it is no longer actively updated.
Webmuseum organizes its collection both alphabetically by artist and thematically by artistic movement. The site provides educators and students with a large number of visual reproduction of artworks, contributing to the foundation for the extensive digital archives and virtual museum tours.