History of Paris new Ministry of Finance in Bercy (the old Ministry had been housed in a wing of the Louvre), also opened in 1989. The Grande Arche in La Défense was also finished in 1989, a massive hollow cube-shaped building 112 metres high that completed the long perspective from the Arc de Triomphe du Carrousel through the Place de la Concorde and the Champs Élysées. The most famous project of all, the "Grand Louvre", included the expulsion of the Ministry of Finance, the reconstruction of large parts of the museum, an underground gallery, and the addition of a glass pyramid by I.M.
Louvre least one announcement reading "Free entrance offered by the archeologists" has been attached to the ticket desk and a number of people visited the museum free of charge. The Louvre is owned by the French government; however, since the 1990s it has become more independent. Since 2003, the museum has been required to generate funds for projects. By 2006, government funds had dipped from 75 percent of the total budget to 62 percent. Every year, the Louvre now raises as much as it gets from the state, about €122 million. The government pays for operating costs (salaries, safety and maintenance),