ANN: ‘MNR’ Works at the Musée du Louvre – A New Dataset (1738 artworks)

Dataset of of MNR works conserved at the Musée du Louvre now available.

When, a few years after World War II, the so-called collecting points of the allied forces in Germany were closed, 61,000 still unclaimed works of art were brought to France because it was known or believed that they had been looted in France. Many of these objects had been stolen from Jewish families and most of them were soon returned to their rightful owners.

The remaining 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 the French national museums for safekeeping. These works are not the property of the State. 

This group of works, designated by the acronym ‘MNR’ for Musées Nationaux Récupération (National Museums Recovery), is managed by the Musée du Louvre. 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’. The Musée du Louvre is committed to carrying out research to find their rightful owners or beneficiaries.

This dataset contains information and photographs of MNR works conserved at the Musée du Louvre. For more information, see: https://collections.louvre.fr/en/album/1