Louvre Museum in Paris, France

Ads

Sponsored Links

Louvre Museum is the most visited art museum in the world, a monument full of historical meaning and the greatest national museum of France. It is a central tourist attraction in Paris, located on the Right Bank of the Seine, in the first arrondissement. Here there are displayed over 35,000 art objects dating from the 6th millennium BC and up to the nineteenth century AD.

Louvre Museum is housed by Louvre palace, which was originally conceived as a fortress, in the twelfth century under the reign of Philip II. The ruins of this fort can still be seen today. The building continued to be extended several times over the centuries until it reached its current form of Louvre Palace. In 1674, the residence of French kings was moved from Louvre Palace to Versailles Palace and thus Louvre remained the main place where the royal art collections would be exhibited. During the French Revolution it was decided for Louvre to become a museum and host the most precious masterpieces of the French nation.

When it was opened, on August 10, 1793, the museum presented a collection of 537 paintings, most of the works being confiscated from church and the French monarchy. During Napoleon's reign, the museum collection has expanded greatly and has changed its name into Napoleon Museum. After Napoleon's defeat many of the confiscated works were returned to their initial owners. However, the collection of the museum has continued to expand, being added more than 20,000 pieces during the Second Empire. The number of art works owned by Louvre Museum has continued to increase steadily from gifts and donations, except the period of the two World Wars.

Since 2008, the collection of Louvre Museum is divided into eight distinct categories: Egyptian Antiquities; Near Eastern Antiquities; Greek, Etruscan and Roman Antiquities; Islamic Art; Sculptures; Decorative Arts; Paintings; Prints and Drawings.

Louvre Museum currently houses over 380,000 museum objects and 35,000 works of art displayed on over 60,000 square meters of exhibition space dedicated to the permanent collections. Of the 15,000 daily visitors, over 65% are foreign.

Drawings collection consists of more than 6,000 paintings dating from the XIIIth century and up to 1848. Here there can be found Leonardo da Vinci's masterpiece, Mona Lisa, among many other works of art of inestimable value.

The interest in Louvre increased with the mention in Dan Brown's novel, The Da Vinci Code. Built as a royal palace, the building is a masterpiece itself, "guarded" by a huge equestrian statue of King Louis XIV. Louvre is not only a museum, but a marvelous historical building and a part of the French cultural heritage.

Sponsored Links