The Louvre Museum (French: Musée
du Louvre) in Paris, France, is the
most visited and one of the oldest,
largest, and most famous art galleries
and museums in the world. The Louvre
has a long history of artistic and historic
conservation, inaugurated in the Capetian
dynasty until today. The building was
previously a royal palace and is famous
for holding several of the world's most
beautiful works of art, such as Leonardo
da Vinci's Mona Lisa, The Virgin and
Child with St. Anne, Madonna of the
Rocks, and Alexandros of Antioch's Venus
de Milo. Located in the centre of the
city of Paris, between the Rive Droite
of the Seine and the rue de Rivoli in
the Ier arrondissement, it is accessed
by the Palais Royal — Musée
du Louvre Metro station. The equestrian
statue of Louis XIV constitutes the
starting point axe historique, but the
palace is not aligned on this axis.
With a record 8.3 million visitors
received in 2006,[1] the Louvre is by
far the most visited culture and art
museum in the world.
The first royal "Castle of the
Louvre" was founded in what was
then the western edge of Paris by Philip
Augustus in 1190, as a fortified royal
palace to defend Paris on its west against
Viking attacks. The first building in
the existing Louvre was begun in 1535,
after demolition of the old Castle.
The architect Pierre Lescot introduced
to Paris the new design vocabulary of
the Renaissance, which had been developed
in the châteaux of the Loire.
During his reign (1589–1610),
King Henry IV added the Grande Galerie.
Henry IV, a promoter of the arts, invited
hundreds of artists and craftsmen to
live and work on the building's lower
floors. This huge addition was built
along the bank of the River Seine and
at the time was the longest edifice
of its kind in the world.
Louis XIII (1610–1643) completed
the Denon Wing, which had been started
by Catherine Medici in 1560. Today it
has been renovated, as a part of the
Grand Louvre Renovation Programme.
The Richelieu Wing of the Louvre at
nightThe Richelieu Wing was also built
by Louis XIII. It was part of the Ministry
of Economy of France, which took up
most of the north wing of the palace.
The Ministry was moved and the wing
was renovated and turned into magnificent
galleries which were inaugurated in
1993, the 200th anniversary of parts
of the building first being opened to
the public as a museum on November 8,
1793 during the French Revolution.
Napoleon I built the Arc de Triomphe
du Carrousel (Triumph Arch) in 1805
to commemorate his victories and the
Jardin du Carrousel. In those times
this garden was the entrance to the
Palais des Tuileries.
The Louvre was still being added to
by Napoleon III. The new wing of 1852–1857,
by architects Visconti and Hector Lefuel,
represents the Second Empire's version
of Neo-baroque, full of detail and laden
with sculpture. Work continued until
1876.
