French museum to launch audio guides in Korean

MANILA, Philippines - The Musée d’Orsay in Paris will launch its first-ever Korean language audio guide, giving Korean visitors a chance to enjoy the museum's collection with commentaries in their mother tongue.

Korean Air's Vice President Yong-Chul Kim and Musée d’Orsay President Guy Cogeval signed on October 24 an agreement confirming the airline's sponsopship and development of the museum's Korean language program for the first half of 2015.

The sponsorship includes Korean audio guides in the museum, the latest of agreements that already exist in Musée du Louvre also in Paris, the British Museum in London and the Hermitage Museum in St. Petersburg, Russia.

Aside from the Korean audio guides, the Musée d’Orsay is also developing and launcha guide map and catalogue in Korean.

The museum’s audio guide is currently available in nine languages other than Korean, including English, French, German, Chinese and Japanese, which has caused frustration for some Korean visitors.

The collections of the Musée d'Orsay, housed in a former train station, consist of paintings and sculptures from 1848 to 1914 and decorative arts and important collections of drawings and photographs. The most famous artists represented in the museum, range from Courbet and Millet to Gauguin and Van Gogh, alongside the Impressionists, Post-Impressionists and Symbolists. The museum has been constantly reinventing itself across the board under the headline, ‘Nouvel Orsay’, with the openings of new galleries and amenities designed by world renowned architects and artists. 

Korean Air said that it is committed to partnerships with the world’s prestigious museums and developing and contributing to global cultural understanding. 

The airline was established in 1969 and is one of the world's top 20 airlines, carrying over 23 million passengers in 2013.