|Louvre Museum Paris|
What to see at the Louvre : To visit the entire Louvre museum, you would need 3 days and 2 nights of non-stop visit … and this, devoting only 10 seconds to each art work on display ! The Musée du Louvre is the biggest museum of art and antiques in the world.
The Louvre’s collection covers Western art from the medieval period to 1848, formative works from the civilisations of the ancient world, and works of Islamic art. Its exhibition space is 72,735 square meter (78,2913 square foot) among which 403 showrooms. At the end of 2016, its collections included 554,731 works. Only 35,000 are exposed in the exhibition space.
Ieoh Ming Pei, who already had the extensions of the Fine Arts Museum in Boston and the National Gallery of Art in Washington to his credit, was appointed in July 1983 as the architect of the project, supported by the President of the Republic François Mitterrand.
What to see at the Louvre might be complicated but in this article, you will get masterpieces you must see. Right there, it might take half day at the Louvre. The Musée du Louvre presents 8 departments:
- Paintings
- Greek – Etruscan – Roman Antiquities
- Egyptian Antiquities
- Near Eastern Antiquities
- Sculptures
- Decorative Arts
- Islamic Art
- Print and Drawing Arts
In addition, The Pavillon de l’Horloge (The Clock Pavilion) opened in 2016 to expose the Louvre history such as kings who lived there, why did it become a museum. The Musée du Louvre is a former royal palace. Charles V was the first king to take up his residence there in the XIVth century.
The building work began in the XIIth century. In the Middle Ages, King Philippe-Auguste (1165-1223) had a fortress built here where the Louvre stands, consisting of a keep and a square enclosure. This military stronghold was intended to reinforce the wall built at that time and which was to protect Paris.
Louis XIV was the last king to live there leaving the Louvre for the Palace of Versailles. It is located on the Right Bank of the Seine, between le Jardin des Tuileries and the church Saint-Germain-L’auxerrois, in the arrondissement 1. During the French Revolution, the palace was inaugurated on August 10th, 1793 as a museum.
Extension of the Louvre in France and worldwide
In 2003, Jean-Jacques Aillagon, the then Minister for Culture and Communication, and Henri Loyrette, president of the Musée du Louvre, announced plans to create a regional branch of the Louvre. Former President François Hollande inaugurated December 4, 2012 the Louvre-Lens museum, a cultural clearing in the heart of a former disaster area in northern France on which the city hopes to build an economic renaissance. The city is also on a TGV line, putting it just 1 hour 10 minutes from Paris by high-speed train. TGV links take travelers on to Lille, and from there to Brussels and London.
The Louvre Abu Dhabi museum in the United Arab Emirates represents the contemporary Arab world while celebrating multicultural heritage. It is featuring a global selection of around 600 masterpieces. Its opening date was November 11, 2017 but the project started in 2007.
The Metropolitan Museum of Art’s roots are back to 1866 in Paris, France, when a group of Americans wanted to create a “national institution and gallery of art” to bring art and art education to the American people.
With approximately 9 million annual visitors, the Louvre in Paris is one of the most visited museum in the world
What to see at the Louvre in Paris
The Louvre hosts a must see : Mona Lisa by Leonardo da Vinci. Leonardo da Vinci died 500 years ago and still, one of his most impressive works is the Mona Lisa, this portrayal of a woman with a mysterious smile and gaze captures the fascination of the art world.
La Joconde/Mona Lisa
The supposed portrait of Francesco del Giocondo’s wife, begun in 1503 by the genius Leonardo da Vinci, is certainly the most famous painting in the world. A masterpiece of the Louvre unavoidable. Discover the story of the painting of La Joconde, also called Mona Lisa. This portrait is a masterpiece in the art history by its technicality. The theft of Leonardo da Vinci painting in the 19th century and the mysteries surrounding its origin continue to draw crowds. Simply unmissable.
What to see at the Louvre for a first visit
For a first visit at the Louvre, discover this selection of masterpieces among so many others. You will need a small half-day on a regular step, taking time to stop, sit and observe this selection of what to see at the Louvre still crossing time, humanity and the museum !
The Winged Victory of Samothrace
In Greece, the representation of victory was personified as a winged goddess, descending on earth to honor the conqueror. Faithful to this spirit, the colossal work was placed in a rock niche overlooking the theater of the Great Gods Sanctuary in Samothrace, a tiny greek island, at the beginning of the 2nd century BC. It represents a Victory landing on the front of a warship, probably to commemorate a naval victory. By the virtuosity of this sculpture and the ingenuity of its construction, this monument is an unequaled masterpiece of Greek sculpture from the Hellenistic period.
The Wedding Feast at Cana
The Wedding Feast at Cana commissioned to the painter Veronese in 1562 by the Benedictine monks of a monastery in Venice, is an illustration of texts from the Gospel. It is the largest painting in the Louvre. With “The Marriage of Cana”, Veronese transposed the biblical episode of a sumptuous marriage where Jesus performs His first miracle, according to the Gospel of John.
Louis XIV Portrait, King of France
Ordered to be offered to the King of Spain, Philip V, grandson of Louis XIV, this portrait was so successful that it remained in France. Each detail of the painting contributes to make the quintessence image of absolute power, the Sun King dressed in the costume of fleur-de-lis coronation, one of the greatest kings of France. Louis XIV was the last king to live at the Louvre. He moved to the Palace of Versailles.
The Coronation of the Emperor Napoleon I and the Crowning of the Empress Joséphine
The Rite of Napoleon I, Napoleon Bonaparte, commissioned to the painter Jacques-Louis David, staged the Emperor during his coronation and the coronation of the Empress Josephine. He is crowned Emperor, in the cathedral Notre-Dame of Paris, on December 2, 1804, by Pope Pius VII. Eyewitness to the ceremony, the painter David will realistically deliver the colorful crowd but he must also respond to the intentions of the Emperor.
July 28: Liberty Leading the People
The popular insurrection of July 1830 in Paris, aroused by the liberal republicans against the violation of the Constitution by the government of the Second Restoration, overthrows Charles X, the last bourbon king of France and puts in his place Louis Philippe, Duke of Orleans. Witness of the event, the painter Delacroix, found a modern subject that he methodically translated with a romantic fervor. By its allegorical aspect and its political scope, the work was frequently chosen as a symbol of the French Republic or the Democracy or Freedom. The female central figure, half-goddess, half-woman is here between the tangible and the idea.
Piétà de Villeneuve-lès-Avignon
This masterpiece of the Provencal school, long time anonymous, was attributed to Enguerrand Quarton, author of the Coronation of the Virgin painted in 1453-1454 for the Carthusian monastery of the same place (Villeneuve-lès-Avignon, museum). This painting expresses the themes of the lamentation, the devotion, the Passion of Christ with the presence of the Virgin Mary, Saint John the Evangelist and Saint Mary Magdalene, as well as the painter himself on the far left behind Saint John.
Venus de Milo Greek sculpture, gallery of antiquities
The Louvre’s gallery of antiquities displays masterpieces of Greek sculpture, including the famous Venus de Milo. You would need a heart of stone not to be moved by her grace ! With the Mona Lisa and The Winged Victory of Samothrace, the Venus de Milo is one of the three most famous female figures in the Louvre. Her name comes from the Greek island of Melos (now Milos). She was acquired by the Marquis de Rivière in 1820, French ambassador of Greece. He then presented her to King Louis XVIII, who donated her to the Louvre in March 1821.
Man’s Mommy, Egyptian Antiquities
Vania Teofilo / CC BY-SA
This mummy is, according to the results of an X-ray examination, an adult man. This is the only mummy preserved and exhibited at the Louvre Museum in the Department of Egyptian Antiquities. It is particularly well preserved and the braiding of the bands, especially on the face, is impressive. His face is covered with a mask with harmonious features at the top of which is represented a winged scarab, symbol of rebirth.
The Seated Scribe
In fact, sitting cross-legged, the squatting scribe is very often shown in the history textbooks to illustrate writing in the time of ancient Egypt. This character who has kept all his colors is in working position. One can easily imagine his papyrus leaf on his legs and his brush in his right hand.
Law Code of Hammurabi, king of Babylon
The high basalt stele by the king of Babylon in the eighteenth century BC is a work of art, prior to biblical laws. The stele dates from 1750 BC. The Law Code of Hammurabi is the emblem of the Mesopotamian civilization, historic region of the Middle East-Iraq mostly. This basalt stele was erected by King Hammurabi of Babylon (1792–1750 BC) probably at Sippar, city of the sun god Shamash, god of justice. The Law Code of Hammurabi is valuable first and foremost as a model, being a treatise on the exercise of judiciary power in the context of Mesopotamian science.
What to see at the Louvre could be a much longer list of masterpieces. This one should take half a day.
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