Helmed by Zhou Bing and Xu Huan, the masterminds behind The Forbidden City (2005), this 12-episode documentary offers an in-depth exploration of Chinese and Western art.

According to Zhou Bing, it was inspired by the Napoleon I Exhibition held at the Palace Museum in 2008. All the 100 exhibits related to Napoleon were provided by the Louvre.

Both Zhou and Xu saw the exhibition as a spiritual dialogue between two different streams of human civilization, and this gave them the idea to make a documentary that strings together the two great art centers.

They took their idea to the Louvre staff and found an enthusiastic response and for the first time, the Louvre was thrown open to Chinese filmmakers. Featuring rare collections seldom shown in public, the documentary delves into Egyptian, Roman and Renaissance art, and so on, juxtaposing them with Chinese art achievements of the same era.

The docu is being shown from Feb 17 to Feb 28.