Opened in the late eighteenth century, the Louvre Museum is the largest museum in France and the most visited in the world . Currently receives over eight million visitors each year.
Formed from the collections of the French monarchy and the plundering carried out during the Napoleonic Empire, the Louvre Museum opened in 1793 showing a new model of museum, which passed from the hands of the ruling classes to the enjoyment of the general public .
Building architecture
The Louvre Museum is housed in the Louvre Palace , a XII century fortress was enlarged and renovated several times. Before it became a museum, some monarchs Charles V and Philip II used the palace as a royal residence in which accumulated their art collections .
Following the move of the royal residence at Versailles Palace , the impressive building of 160,000 square feet would begin its transformation into one of the most important museums in the world.
In 1989 he built a pyramid of glass breaking the monotony of the big gray blocks of the museum, which now serves as a gateway.
The Louvre’s collection includes nearly 300,000 pre-1948 works, of which approximately 35,000 are exposed . The vast collection is organized thematically into different departments: Oriental Antiquities, Egyptian, Greek, Roman and Etruscan history of the Louvre and Medieval Louvre, painting, sculpture, art, graphic and art of Islam.
Among the most important paintings of the museum is worth noting the following:
La Gioconda of Leonardo da Vinci.
Liberty Leading the People by Delacroix.
The Wedding at Cana by Veronese.
Among the sculptures the most outstanding works are:
The Venus de Milo of Ancient Greece .
The seated scribe of Ancient Egypt .
The Winged Victory of Samothrace Hellenistic period of ancient Greece.
The Louvre is huge and art lovers crossing it could be several days . To get an overview and see the most outstanding works, you need to spend at least a full morning to tour the museum.
While the Louvre is very important worldwide, maybe for people who are not too interested in art ever become too boring place because of its huge dimensions , in addition to the heat and the crowds .