La+Joconde

Did you realise that [|Leonardo da Vinci's] world famous portrait of the [|'Mona Lisa'], otherwise known as [|'La Joconde'] in France, is on permanent display at the [|Louvre Museum] in [|Paris?] Yes, the most valuable painting in the whole world is owned by the French government after having been bought by [|King Francis I] in 1519.

 Although the masterpiece measures just 77 by 53 cm, [|the painting] attracts approximately 6 million visitors every year and was last estimated to be worth around 100 million American dollars; understandably, the museum's gallery is kept under constant surveillance! With all the crowds, it's really difficult to even get a glimpse of the painting but you can take a [|virtual look at the Mona Lisa] courtesy of the [|parisarounder website.]

 You are no doubt familiar with the Microsoft Paint package - but do you think you could reproduce the Mona Lisa using this piece of computer software? Well, take a look at these two impressive reproductions, the first created electronically and the second with... Heinz ketchup!!!

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Change the Mona Lisa's expression with [|interactive activity from La Cité des Sciences et de l'Industrie]

[|Paint the Mona Lisa on-line] courtesy of the Enchanted Learning website.

Investigate the range of activities on the wonderful [|France 5 Education website.]

Finally, here's a 20 piece jigsaw puzzle for you to rearrange...

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