Exciting news from the Louvre, one of the greatest art museums in the world. To enhance the museum experience, visitors can now use 3DS devices to listen to more than 700 recordings about the works there (although that’s a tiny portion of the more than 35,000 in the museum’s collection. The Japan Times reports:

The console comes in handy when peering high up at Veronese’s 60-sq.-meter painting “The Wedding at Cana,” across from the “Mona Lisa.” Details of the giant tableau easily seen on screen can be checked against the real thing.

The biggest benefit may be helping art lovers get around: Visitors can view their location, which blinks inside a diagram of exhibit rooms on one of the console’s two screens. A menu, meanwhile, allows for a specific search for one of the museum’s 50 most popular works and can plot a path to get to it. A “masterpieces” walk is also included.

The value is more symbolic than anything else. The Louvre has not been the most contemporary in outlook and their willingness to embrace an new piece of technology demonstrates that times are a-changing. Nintendo’s director general for France, Stephan Bole, had an additionally unique outlook. “The 3DS is to assist a visit that remains live — you have to see the paintings to appreciate them,” Bole said. “We want to complement the real live visit.”

[via Japan Times] [img] (thx Lindsay!)