This exhibition, called the salon, was held once a year. The academicians decided which paintings were to be accepted for display. They arranged the exhibition and determined which paintings were hung at eye level (where they are best seen), and which ones were hung in the third or fourth tier up, near the ceiling. They also judged the paintings, giving medals (and prize money) to the most deserving works. The highest prize was the Prix de Rome, which provided an artists a stipend to live and work in Rome for three or four years. Huge crowds of people came to the Salons,which were important socially, as well as aesthetically. collectors and purchasers came to socialize and to buy. (Most of the sales went to the national and provincial museums of France, however, and only a few to private collectors.)