Louvre Museum
The Louvre Museum displays artwork from around the world and artifacts from ancient civilizations. It is one of the world’s top three largest museums, along with The British Museum in London and the Vatican Museums in Vatican City.
Overview :
After the French Revolution, it was opened to the public in 1793 by the revolutionary government as the Musée national des Beaux-Arts, and by the 19th century, it had been finalized in its present form, with two square main buildings and two huge gardens surrounding the buildings. Later, in the 1980s, as part of a plan to use the entire Louvre Palace as a museum, the glass pyramid that has become the entrance to the museum and the symbol of the Louvre was created, designed by American architect Fay and located in the Louvre’s central garden, Place Napoleon.
The Louvre is organized into three exhibition halls: “Richelieu”, “Denon” and “Sully”. Works from 5,000 BC to the 19th century are on display here.
Richelieu
Rooms 500 to 564
The Richelieu’s most popular exhibits include Mesopotamian, 17th to 19th century French sculpture, 14th to 17th century French painting, and Northern European drawings, including works by the German painter Hans Holbein and the Dutch master of light and darkness Rembrandt Harmensz. Rubens, Room 18 of the Richelieu, featuring 24 paintings from “The life of Marie de Medici” series by Peter Paul Rubens, where you can immerse yourself in the rich colors of the Northern European Baroque master.
Denon
Rooms700 to 734
Italian and Nordic sculpture, 19th-century French paintings, and more are among the Denon’s most popular exhibits. Works include El Greco’s “Saint Louis”, Théodore Géricault, Delacroix’s “The Death of Sardanapalus”, Leonardo da Vinci’s “Mona Lisa”, and Paolo Veronese’s “Les Noces de Cana”. You can also see the Winged Victory of Samothrace (NIKE).
Sully
Rooms 600 to 663
A popular exhibit in the Sully Rooms is the 17th to 19th century French paintings, which are the epitome of Rococo art. You’ll find works by Hyacinthe Rigaud, Georges de La Tour, Jean-Antoine Watteau, and others, as well as the Venud de Milo.
History:
The Louvre Museum is located in the 1st arrondissement in the center of Paris, the capital of France. The 1st arrondissement is one of the 20 administrative districts that make up Paris. It is located in the center of the city and borders the north bank of the Seine River. It is home to the Louvre Museum and the Tuileries Park, among other important attractions. It is also the main business and administrative district of Paris.
The Louvre is a world-class museum that houses works by masters from all over the world. Although it is one of the three most visited museums in the world, it was originally built for a completely different purpose. In 1190, King Philip II (1165-1223) built a fortress of outer walls, towers, and inner buildings to protect Paris from Anglo-Norman attacks. You can still see traces of the fortress in the Louvre’s basement, including the Salle Basse.
But as the city grew larger and larger, the Louvre Fortress was no longer enough to protect Paris, so in the late 14th century, King Charles V (1338-1380) built a massive new wall around the city. He then ordered the architect Raymond du Temple (1360-1405) to convert the fortress into a royal residence. The fortress was transformed into the Louvre Castle.
It wasn’t until the reign of François I (1494-1547) that the Louvre began to take on the appearance of a full-fledged royal palace. He ordered the famous French architect Pierre Lescot (1515-1578) to demolish the old building and build a new palace on its site.
Later, in 1682, when Louis XIV (1638-1715) moved the royal court to the Chateau de Versailles, the Louvre was turned into a storage space for the royal collections. In 1692, the Royal Academy of Arts was created within the Louvre. Its role was to preserve and care for the Louvre’s collection of royal art, as well as to educate French artists.
It wasn’t until the French Revolution that the Louvre was transformed into a museum. The National Assembly decided to open the Louvre’s collection of national masterpieces to the public. As a result, the Louvre was reborn as a museum on the first anniversary of the Revolution in August 1793, with hundreds of paintings and sculptures.
The museum’s collection grew rapidly during the Napoleonic era. For this reason, it was for a time called the Musee Napoleon. Since then, the Louvre has acquired art from all over the world and now houses many of the world’s finest paintings and sculptures.
Featured collections :
The collections are organized into eight departments.
The Louvre owns a total of 615,797 works of art, of which around 35,000 are on display. They are organized into eight exhibition sectors and managed by specialists. The Louvre’s collections are organized into eight exhibition sections, each with a selection of representative works.
1. Egyptian antiquities
The Egyptian antiquities department contains more than 50,000 pieces. It contains around 50,000 artifacts from the Egyptian civilization of the Nile basin, dating from the 4th millennium BC to the 4th century AD.
2. Middle Eastern antiquities
The Near Eastern artifacts section is a relatively new division. With artworks dating from 1881 to the present day, it offers a glimpse into the early civilizations and settlements of the Near East before the Islamic onslaught. Geographically, the collection is divided into the Levant (also known as the Middle East, referring to Syria and Lebanon), Mesopotamia, and Persia (Iran).
3. Greek, Etruscan, and Roman Antiquities
The Greek, Etruscan (Etruscans: ancient peoples who lived in the Etruscan region of Italy), and Roman artifacts section showcases works from the Mediterranean coastal region from the Neolithic period to the 6th century. The collection covers works from the Cycladic Period (Bronze Age civilization of the Cycladic Islands, a Greek archipelago in the Aegean Sea region) in Greece to the decline of the Roman Empire.
4. Islamic Art
Islamic art is the Louvre’s newest collection. It consists of artifacts from Islamic cultures spanning 1300 years and includes more than 5,000 works of art, including ceramics, glass, iron, wood, ivory, carpets, textiles, miniatures, and more. Originally part of the decorative arts department, the collection became its own department in 2003.
5. Sculpture
The Sculpture department deals with sculptures that do not belong to the Greek, Etruscan, or Roman departments and were created before 1850 and do not belong to the Etruscan, Greek, or Roman wing.
6. Decorative Arts
The decorative arts department of the Louvre presents works from the Middle Ages to the mid-19th century, and was initially part of the sculpture department.
7. Paintings
The painting department has around 6,000 works and dates from 1848 to the 13th century. Twelve curators are responsible for the presentation of the paintings, about two-thirds of which are by French painters, with more than 1,200 works from Northern Europe. The Italian paintings are dominated by François I and Louis XIV’s relics, as well as unreturned loot from Napoleonic plundering and works acquired by the museum.
8. Prints and Drawings
The Prints and Drawings department is a collection of works on paper. The collection’s origins lie in the royal collection of 8,600 works, 415 of which were exhibited in the Apollo Gallery in 1797, when it began to be managed as an independent department.To strengthen this division, the Louvre acquired an additional 1,200 drawings from the collection of Italian art historian Fillipo Baldinucci in 1806, while government support and external donations also helped to expand the collection of prints.The collection is divided into three sections: the core Royal Collection; the 14,000 Royal Copper Prints; and the Edmond de Rothschild Donation, which consists of 40,000 prints, 3,000 drawings, and 5,000 illustrated books. The woodcut collections are housed in the Pavillon de Flore, where they are displayed and cared for separately due to the fragility of the paper.
Visiting Detail:
Location : 99 Rue de Rivoli, 75001 Paris France
Open : Mon,Wed-Sun 09:00-18:00 (Last entry up to 1 hour before)
Fri 09:00~21:45
Closed : Tue, 1 Jan, 1 May, 25 Dec Closed
Founded : 1793
Annual attendance : Approximately 7,800,000
Official Website : https://www.louvre.fr/
