In January, French President Emmanuel Macron announced a significant renovation plan for the Louvre, following concerns from the museum’s director about the building’s deteriorating condition. The project includes the creation of a new grand entrance and broader refurbishments across the historic site. Like most museum goers, I’m excited about the project. Every time that I’m in Paris I visit the Louvre and always discover something new.

The place is simply too enormous to comprehend on one visit, or indeed on ten visits. It has taken eight centuries for the complex to reach its current size, a process explained in under three minutes by the official video animation below.