Luc Piralla joins France Muséums
Luc Piralla is a cultural heritage curator specialising in the Indianised arts of Asia and is the former deputy director of Louvre Lens. He joined the France Muséums teams in October 2020 as Scientific Director.
With his in-depth knowledge of the networks and roles of museums in particular geographical areas and the challenges they face, Luc Piralla will continue to develop and support ambitious scientific and cultural projects, especially in the fields of capacity building and mediation.
Luc Piralla gained a degree in cultural heritage law and is also a graduate of the Ecole du Louvre (in art history) and the Institut National du Patrimoine. He has been a cultural heritage curator since 2011. His research field is the reception of Indian and Indianised collections in nineteenth-century France. His career has led him to work in a variety of settings: for the Cambodian Authority for the Protection of Angkor, for the Institut Français du Proche-Orient studying the architecture of Damascus under French mandate, and as an adviser to Air France on conserving and showcasing its heritage.
He joined the Louvre-Lens Museum as Head of the Exhibitions Department in 2013 and was later appointed Deputy Director. He was in charge of all the exhibition production services as well as the mediation teams. He initiated innovative projects such as an exhibition of souvenirs belonging to supporters of the Racing Club de Lens, and curated international exhibitions taking a fresh approach to familiar themes (Le Nain in 2017 and Homer in 2019), tackling little-known subjects (19th century Polish painting in 2019), or adopting a trans-disciplinary approach (Soleils noirs in 2020).
