Korean Air Sponsors Service at Louvre, British, Hermitage Museums

By Kim Rahn
Staff Reporter

Korean Air is sponsoring Korean-speaking guides at three world-renowned museums ― the Louvre Museum in Paris, the British Museum in London and the State Hermitage Museum in St. Petersburg.

Following the guide service at the Russian museum, Korean has become the first Asian language to be adopted at the three museums.

The national flag carrier and the Hermitage museum held an event on Nov. 28 to commemorate Korean Air's sponsorship of the museum's audio guide. Korean visitors to the museum will be able to enjoy about 300 art pieces with commentaries in their mother tongue starting next March.

The museum is currently providing the guide service in six languages ― Russian, English, German, French, Italian and Spanish ― and Korean will be the first Asian language there. About 2.6 million people visit the Russian museum yearly.

``It is part of our effort to spread Korean culture and support cultural projects around the world,'' a Korean Air official said.

It is not the first time for Korean Air to sponsor Korean language guides at museums. On Nov. 26, the airline and the British Museum held a signing ceremony for sponsorship at the museum.

The two sides agreed that Korean Air will be the exclusive sponsor in upgrading the museum's multimedia guide units into PDA-type ones and making the contents. The new audio and video guide will include explanations of 200 pieces in 10 languages, including Korean.

The audio guide currently used at the British Museum offers commentary on 50 items in nine languages. The new service will be available starting at the end of next year.

The museum, founded in 1753, houses about seven million pieces of cultural heritage collected worldwide, such as sculptures from the Parthenon and the Rosetta Stone. More than six million travelers visit the museum every year.

Earlier in February, the airline started offering a Korean guide service at the Louvre by sponsoring the multimedia guide equipment. Korean was the seventh language adopted at the museum, where more than 8.3 million people visit annually.

``Korean Air will expand the Korean-language guide service to more museums to contribute to a global society,'' the official said.

rahnita@koreatimes.co.kr