Louvre Museum (Musée du Louvre), Paris.

Being one of the prime candidates to be among the best museums in the world, the Louvre Museum or Musée du Louvre (in French), is the most visited art museum in the world and is also one of the largest in the world. This legendary attraction of Paris is located on the right bank of the Seine in the 1^st arrondissement (district). Spanned over an area over 60 600 m², it boasts of a collection of more than 380 000 objects dating from the pre-historic era up to the 19^th century.

Remnants of the original structure.

The Louvre Palace (Palais du Louvre) which houses the museum was built in the late 12^th century under Philip II (1165 - 1223). Even today, some parts of this original fortress can be seen in the basement of the museum. The building has been modified and expanded in numerous occasions to bring up to the present level. In 1682, Louis XIV (1638 - 1715) moved into the Palace of Versailles, leaving the Louvre primarily as a place to display the royal collection. During the French Revolution (1789 - 1799), the National Assembly declared that the Louvre should be used as a museum.

The museum was officially opened on the 10^th of August 1793 with an exhibition of 537 paintings, the most of them being royal and confiscated church property. Due to structural problems with the building, the museum was closed from 1796 up to 1801. Since the reopening, the “Louvre Collection” has steadily increasing up to date.

The collection is divided among eight curatorial departments at present:

Inside the glass pyramid…

1. Egyptian Antiquities
2. Near Eastern Antiquities
3. Greek, Etruscan, and Roman Antiquities
4. Islamic Art
5. Sculpture
6. Decorative Arts
7. Paintings
8. Prints and Drawings

Center court-yard of the Palace.

Getting There…

The Louvre could be accessed by public transport quite easily. One of the easiest method would be to take the Métro (lines 1 and 7) and get down at Palais-Royal Musée du Louvre station.

Opening Hours

• Monday, Thursday, Saturday, Sunday: from 9.00 a.m. to 6.00 p.m.
• Wednesday, Friday: from 9.00 a.m. to 9.45 p.m.
• Closed on Tuesday.
• The museum is open every day except Tuesday and the following French holidays: December 25, January 1, and May 1.
• Rooms begin closing 30 minutes before museum closing time.

Entrances to the museum

• Pyramid and Galerie du Carrousel entrances: every day (except Tuesday) from 9.00 a.m. to 10.00 p.m. (starting from July 1, 2012: 9.00 a.m. to 7.30 p.m. on Mondays, Thursdays, Saturdays, Sundays; 9.00 a.m. to 10.00 p.m. on Wednesdays and Fridays; closed on Tuesdays)
• Passage Richelieu entrance: every day (except Tuesday) from 9.00 a.m. to 5.30 p.m. (6.30 p.m. on Wednesdays and Fridays)
• Porte des Lions entrance: every day except Tuesday and Friday. Opening hours: contact the museum (except Tuesdays).

Entry Fees

Egyptian hieroglyphs.

• Tickets for the Permanent Collections: €10
  Full-day access to the Louvre, except for temporary exhibitions in the Hall Napoléon. Also valid for the Musée Eugène Delacroix.
• Tickets for Exhibitions in the Hall Napoléon: €11
  Note that free admission to the museum on the first Sunday of every month does not include the exhibitions in the Hall Napoléon.
• Combined Ticket: €14
  Access to the permanent collections and temporary exhibitions in both the Louvre and the Musée Eugène Delacroix.
• Free Admission to the Louvre
  Admission to the Louvre and the Musée Eugène Delacroix is free for the following visitor categories (valid ID or proof of entitlement required):
  • visitors under the age of 18

  

  • 18-25 year-old residents of the European Economic Area (EU, Iceland, Norway, and Liechtenstein)
  • teachers of art, art history, and the applied arts
  • holders of the "Pass Education" (primary and secondary school teachers in French public schools and private schools receiving government subsidies)
  • artists affiliated to the Maison des Artistes (in France) or the AIAP (Association Internationale des Arts Plastiques)
  • unemployed individuals and visitors receiving benefits (proof of entitlement must be dated within the last six months)
  • disabled visitors and their guest or helper
  Free admission for all visitors on the first Sunday of each month and on July 14 (except for the temporary exhibitions in the Napoleon Hall).
  On Friday evenings from 6 p.m. to 9:45 p.m., admission to the permanent collections is free for under-26s regardless of nationality (upon presentation of ID).

Contact Details

	Address	Musée du Louvre, 75058 Paris, France.
	Telephone No.	+33 (0)1 40 20 5317
	Website	www.louvre.fr/en

Few Noteable Exhibits…

The Mona Lisa.

The Mona Lisa

The Mona Lisa (a.k.a. La Gioconda or La Joconde) is a half-length portrait of a woman by the Italian artist Leonardo da Vinci (1452-1519), which has been acclaimed as “the best known, the most visited, the most written about, the most sung about, the most parodied work of art in the world.”

The painting, believed to be a portrait of Lisa Gherardini (1479-1542), the wife of Francesco del Giocondo, is in oil on a poplar panel, and is supposed to have been painted between 1503 and 1506. It was acquired by King Francis I (1494-1547) of France and is now the property of the French Republic, on permanent display at the Louvre.

Venus de Milo.

Venus de Milo

Venus de Milo (a.k.a. Aphrodite of Milos), is an ancient Greek statue and one of the most famous works of ancient Greek sculpture. (This statue should not be confused with the group of prehistoric statuettes known as Venus figurines.)

Created sometime between 130 and 100 BC, it is believed to represent Aphrodite the Greek goddess of love and beauty (Venus to the Romans). It is a marble sculpture, slightly larger than life size at 203 cm high. From an inscription that was on its base, it is assumed to be the work of Alexandros of Antioch. Venus de Milo was discovered on April 8, 1820 by a peasant named Yorgos Kentrotas, inside a buried niche within the ancient city ruins of Milos, the current village of Tripiti, on the Aegean island of Milos (also Melos, or Milo).

Currently it is on permanent display at the Louvre in the department of Greek, Etruscan, and Roman Antiquities.

The Seated Scribe.

The Seated Scribe

This world renowned sculpture depicts a seated scribe (a scribe is a person who writes books or documents by hand as a profession) at work. It was discovered in Saqqara, Egypt on Nov. 19, 1850 by the French archeologist Auguste Mariette (1821-1881). Been dated to the period of the 4^th Dynasty, 2620-2500 BC, it has been created mainly using limestone and alabaster. Currently it is part of the permanent collection of Egyptian Antiquities in the Louvre.

Dimensions of this sculpture are height: 53.7 cm; width: 44 cm; depth: 35 cm.

Winged Victory of Samothrace

Winged Victory of Samothrace.

The Winged Victory of Samothrace, also known as the Nike of Samothrace, is a 2^nd century BC marble sculpture of the Greek goddess Nike (goddess of Victory). This 3.28m high statue, was unearthed in April 1863 on the Greek island of Samothrace (a.k.a. Samothraki), under the direction of Charles Champoiseau, the French Vice-Consul to Turkey. Since 1884, it has been prominently displayed at the Louvre and is one of the most notable sculptures in the world.

Great Sphinx of Tanis

The sphinx is a fabulous creature with the body of a lion and the head of a king. This one was successively inscribed with the names of the pharaohs Ammenemes II (12^th Dynasty, 1929-1895 BC), Merneptah (19^th Dynasty, 1212-02 BC) and Shoshenq I (22^nd Dynasty, 945-24 BC). According to archaeologists, certain details suggest that this sphinx dates to an earlier period - the Old Kingdom (c. 2600 BC).

Great Sphinx of Tanis.

This is one of the largest sphinxes outside of Egypt. It was found in 1825 among the ruins of the Temple of Amun at Tanis (the capital of Egypt during the 21^st and 22^nd dynasties). This impressive granite sculpture with its precise details and polished surfaces is a work of admirable craftsmanship. Currently this is displayed as a part of the permanent collection of Egyptian Antiquities at the Louvre.

Attractions Nearby

• Eiffel Tower (3.5 km)

Travel Notes

Following are based on the visit to The Louvre on 2008-05-31.

• The Louvre is undoubtedly a “history buff’s paradise”! So, if you want to see it well, have ample time at hand.
• This is an ever-crowded attraction. Therefore, be prepared to wait on queues!
• Noticeably there weren’t any restrictions on photographing most of the exhibits. However, it could be quite a different challenge when it comes to take a clear capture of a center exhibit in a crowded gallery.