NATIONAL MUSEUMS RECOVERY

‘MNR’ works at the Musée du Louvre

1743 artworks
CSV
Themed album

After World War II, 61,000 works of art were retrieved in Germany and brought back to France. Many had been stolen from Jewish families. To date, more than 45,000 have been returned to their rightful owners. Unclaimed works were sold by the French State, with the exception of 2,143 objects placed under the legal responsibility of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and entrusted to French national museums for safekeeping. These works are not the property of the State. The Musée du Louvre, is committed to carrying out research to find their rightful owners or beneficiaries. 

This group of works, designated by the acronym ‘MNR’ for Musées Nationaux Récupération (National Museums Recovery), is managed by the Musée du Louvre. Each type of collection has its own specific prefix: ER (Egyptian Antiquities), AGRR (Greek, Etruscan and Roman Antiquities), AOR (Near Eastern Antiquities and Islamic Art), REC (Prints and Drawings), RFR (Sculptures), OAR (Decorative Arts) and MNR (Paintings). There is no statute of limitations for restitution requests for these works ‘recovered after WWII, retrieved by the Office des Biens et Intérêts Privés and pending return to the legitimate owners’. 

This album contains information and photographs of MNR works conserved at the Musée du Louvre.

 

Cover image: Théodore Géricault, Tête de lionne, vers 1819 - © 2012 RMN-Grand Palais (musée du Louvre) / Philippe Fuzeau

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Musée du Louvre
Last updated on 26 07 2023