🇫🇷France·Open to visitors

Louvre Auditorium (Michel Laclotte auditorium)

Paris

Sources checked November 2026

“A performance hall buried beneath the pyramid, created by I. M. Pei along with the other underground visitor spaces of the Grand Louvre.”

Year: 1989
Architect: I. M. Pei
Type: Underground auditorium
Access: Open to the public for the events in its programme, with a ticket (official website, November 2026)

Set beneath the Louvre pyramid, the auditorium was created by I. M. Pei in 1989 as part of the Grand Louvre. It hosts lectures, symposia, concerts, plays and film screenings. Since 2021 it has been named after Michel Laclotte, who directed the museum from 1987 to 1994.

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In depth ≈ 1 min read

History

Appointed architect of the Grand Louvre in July 1983, Ieoh Ming Pei was given, besides the pyramid and the underground entrance hall, the new exhibition spaces of the Richelieu wing, the underground storerooms for the collections and every space below ground meant for receiving visitors: auditorium, ticket office, cafés, restaurants, bookshops. Michel Laclotte was keen to create a hall at the heart of the museum for lectures, concerts, theatre and cinema, so as to open the Louvre to new audiences. The auditorium's inaugural events took place in April 1989.

In November 2021, a few weeks after the death of Michel Laclotte, heritage curator and director of the Louvre from 1987 to 1994, the museum gave his name to the hall.

Architecture

The stage is 18.50 m by 4.50 m and takes up to 25 musicians, with a side walkway of 50 m² on either side. The hall also has a fixed screen of 9.20 m by 4.90 m.

Use today

Its multidisciplinary programme is built around broad themes linked to what is happening at the museum: lectures, symposia, concerts, theatre, cinema and study days.