You have made it to the largest national museum in France; Musée du Louvre.
The Louvre, as it is often called, is not only the largest museum in France, it is also
the most visited museum in the whole world.
The museum houses several pieces of art which are renown all over the world, the most famous
one being Leonardo Da Vinci's Mona Lisa.
While today's Louvre serves a huge museum, it has gone through several different phases
throughout the history.
The known history of the Louvre started as early as year 1190, when king Filip II built
a fortress on the site to protect Paris from Viking raiders.
The remains of this fortress can actually still be seen in the Louvre crypt.
During the 14th century, Charles V converted the fortress into a royal residence and later
in 1546, Francis I had the whole site renovated into the French Renaissance style you can
see today.
Francis I is by many seen as the founder of the modern Louvre, as he not only renovated
the site, but also acquired the Louvres center piece; the Mona Lisa.
If you take a look next to the main entrance to Pavillon Sully, you will see an inscription
on either side.
The left one says that in 1541, Francis began the construction of the modern Louvre.
Underneath you can read that Catherine de Médicis, wife to Francis second son, founded
the Tuileries Palace in 1564.
The inscription on the right side tells you that Napoleon III united the Louvre with the
Tuileries between year 1852 and 1857.
The Tuileries Palace was standing behind the large arc, which now forms the entrance to
the Louvre, and looked very similar to the Louvre buildings of today.
The palace was at this time connected to the Louvre, so the courtyard you are now standing
in used to be an enclosed space.
The Tuileries Palace was later burned and destroyed during the reign of the Paris Commune
in late 19th century.
But let's not get ahead of things.
When did the Louvre begin to serve as a museum instead of a royal residence?
Well, during the reign of Louis XIV, the construction and expansion of the Louvre was slowed down,
as Louis moved his court from the Louvre to Versailles in late 17th century.
Instead of housing the royal court, the Louvre began to serve more as a museum and as a residence
for artists.
The museum was however still very much closed to the general public.
By the mid 18th century, more and more voices were calling for a public gallery within the
Louvre.
Louis XV soon agreed on this matter and displayed of some of the royal collection in the Louvre
for the public.
With this, the idea of a national museum was born.
However, none of the many offers, suggesting that the Louvre would be turned into a museum,
was agreed upon by the king.
After the French Revolution in the end of the 18th century, the newly constituted National
Assembly decided that the Louvre should serve as a public museum and display the nation's
masterpieces.
The museum was opened for the public in 1793 with an exhibition of 537 paintings, the majority
of the works being confiscated church and royal property.
With the opening of the public museum, the modern Louvre as we now know it was born.
As noted before, the architectural style of the Louvre is typical French Renaissance.
By looking at the outside of the Louvre, you will see that it is covered in magnificent
sculptures.
Above the first level, you can see row of statues that goes all along the front facade
the Louvre.
These are statues of noted French scholars and other academics that played a part in
the French history.
While the Louvre buildings themselves are impressive, there are some other features
worth mentioning.
One of them is the arch that marks the entrance to the Louvre.
This arc, built in early 19th century, is called "Arc de Triomphe du Carrousel".
The arc was, just like its famous big brother, built in honor of Napoleon Bonaparte's military
victories.
While it is only half the size of the Arc du Triomphe, it is still an impressive sight.
Another main feature of the Louvre is of course the glass pyramid.
The pyramid was designed by the American-Japanese architect Ieoh Ming Pei on order by the French
President François Mitterrand.
In 1983, Mitterrand arranged an architectural competition for a grand renovation of the
Louvre, where one of the main objectives was to create a new entrance into the Louvre.
Pei´s winning entry is a smart construction.
It creates a new entrance to the Louvre while at the same time not blocking the view to
the main buildings due to its glass structure.
It did however cause a lot of controversy when it was introduced, as its modern look
is very different compared to its surrounding Renaissance buildings.
The origin of the name, "Louvre", is somewhat uncertain.
Some believe it refers to the structure's status as the largest building in late 12th
century Paris, as the French word for "masterpiece" is "chef d'oeuvre".
Being the worlds most visited museum, the Louvre receives around 15.000 visitors per
day, so expect some crowds.
The crowds usually aren't terrifying though, as Musée du Louvre has so many objects and
covers such a large area.
It is absolutely huge.
It covers more than 60,000 square meters and holds more than 380,000 objects, so if you
can forget about doing the whole Louvre in one afternoon.
Through out the years, the museum has been the location for several major events and
to an extent it still is today.
For example, more recently the museum played a key part in the famous book "The Da Vinci
code".
Today, the Louvre and its surroundings has become an icon of Paris and it is loved by
almost all who visited it.