99, rue de Rivoli 75001 Subway station : Palais Royal - Musée du Louvre Phone : 01 40 20 50 50 Information : info@louvre.fr
The Louvre Museum stretches 700 meters on the right bank of the Seine. In 1200, Philippe August built the Louvre fortress on the north bank of the Seine. A keep surrounded by a moat, the symbol of royal power, stood at the center.
Open daily excepted thursday Nocturne wednesday and friday Open every day except Tuesdays, from 09.00am to 06.45pm (09.45pm on Mondays and Wednesdays).,
Louvre Museum : Description
The foundations of the keep and the moat still exist and belong to the medieval part of the museum. Rebuilt in the mid-16th century for use as a royal palace, the Louvre became as the residence of the King. In 1527, François I announced is intention to take up residence in the Louvre. He was the first eminent patron of Renaissance Italian masters. Twelve paintings from his original collection, including the Vinci's Mona Lisa, Raphaël's Belle Jardinière and Titian's Portrait of François I are among the most important masterpieces of the museum. Buildings were added and remodeled to remain a royal residence until Louis XIV in 1682 when the King relocated the Court to Versailles.
Louvre Museum : History
The palace was neglected for nearly 100 years. Louis XV, in order to transform the monument in a royal collection, began to restore the palace. The Louvre began its career as a royal museum accessible to the public on 10 August 1793, when the doors of the Grande Galerie were opened to the visitors.
Napoleon built the north wing of the palace. He used the edifice for storage and display the spoils of empire. Many of the works of art exacted as a tribute from countries he conquered were reclaimed in 1815. He commissioned the Carrousel Triomphal Arch. Refurbished throughout its history, Le Louvre was completed under Napoleon III. Louis XVIII, Charles X, Louis-Philippe all further endowed the collections. The courtyard was bounded by the Tuileries, burnt down under the Paris Commune in 1871. Gifts, legacies and acquisitions continue to enrich the collections every year.
In 1988, the president François Mitterrand decided to devote the entire palace to the museum and asked to I.M. Pei to add a glass pyramid to the palace courtyard. Over the past decade, the French government has invested over US$ 1 billion in restoring, renovating and upgrading its exhibition halls and public spaces. Today, the museum is the world's largest museum. The Louvre houses the most important collection in the Western world. French governments over the past five centuries have assembled the paintings, sculptures and artefacts on display. Only 35.000 of the Louvre's 300.000 masterpieces are on display. The collections span the period from remotest antiquity (Sumerians, Egyptians) through the Greek and Roman antiquities, the Middle Age, the Renaissance and ends at about 1850.
