MEXICO CITY: Billionaire Carlos Slim, reputedly the world's richest man, Tuesday inaugurated a new Mexico City museum where he aims to share tens of thousands of celebrated artworks with his compatriots. Celebrities ranging from legendary US chat show host Larry King to Colombian Nobel Literature Laureate Gabriel Garcia Marquez attended the launch of the Soumaya museum, named after Slim's art-loving late wife. The museum will display more than 66,000 works of mainly Mexican and European art, including masters such as Rodin, Cezanne, Renoir and Leonardo Da Vinci, as well as coins and documents from the 16th century Spanish conquest. King said the museum would be “one of the best in the world,” while Mexican President Felipe Calderon said there were few collections bringing together “so many schools of universal history.” Slim, 71, said the museum aimed to boost “human development” in the country, underlining that there would be no entrance fee. The Soumaya Museum is part of an $800-million urban development scheme, including housing and a five-star hotel, in a previously rundown area of the Mexican capital, near the upscale Polanco district. – Agence France-PresseIts curving metal facade was designed by Slim's architect son-in-law Fernando Romero and is covered with thousands of light-reflecting metal pieces. The museum opens to the public on March 29 and includes a six-story exhibition space, a 350-seat auditorium, a public library, a cafeteria, lounge and warehouses. For the past 16 years, part of the collection has been housed in a smaller museum in the south of the capital, which will remain open. Slim said his late wife Soumaya, who passed away in 1999, inspired him to acquire art and share itw with Mexicans who are unable to afford foreign travel to international museums. Of Lebanese origin, Slim earned his fortune building up the telephone monopoly Telmex after acquiring it from the Mexican government in 1990. His empire now includes department stores, construction companies and the Inbursa financial group. Last year he knocked Bill Gates from the top of the Forbes list of world billionaires with an estimated fortune of $53.5 billion. – Agence France
