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Musée du Louvre facts for kids

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Nike of Samothrace, Paris 2007
Statue in marble, about 190 BC. Found in Samothrace in 1863

The Louvre is a museum in Paris, which attracts millions of visitors every year because of its art collection. It is the most popular art museum in the world.

The most famous picture in the Louvre is the Mona Lisa by Leonardo da Vinci, but there are also paintings by other great painters like Rembrandt, Giambattista Pittoni, Caravaggio, Rubens, Titian and Eugène Delacroix.

There are also statues inside the Louvre. The most famous statues are the Venus de Milo and the Winged Victory of Samothrace.

History of the Louvre

Philip II of France built a castle called the Castle of the Louvre. It used to be where the museum is. They used the castle as a fortress to defend Paris against the Vikings. Charles V, King of France turned the castle into a palace. However, Francis I, King of France, knocked it down and built a new palace.

Henry IV, King of France added the Grande Galerie to the Louvre. The Grande Galerie is more than a quarter of a mile long and one hundred feet wide. The Grande Galerie was built along the River Seine. It was the longest building in the world.

Grand Louvre Pyramids

Main article: Pyramid of the Louvre

By 1874, the Louvre Palace had achieved its present form of an almost rectangular structure with the Sully Wing to the east containing the Cour Carrée (Square Court) and the oldest parts of the Louvre; and two wings which wrap the Cour Napoléon, the Richelieu Wing to the north and the Denon Wing, which borders the Seine to the south. In 1983, French President François Mitterrand proposed, as one of his Grands Projets, the Grand Louvre plan to renovate the building and relocate the Finance Ministry, allowing displays throughout the building.

Architect I. M. Pei was awarded the project and proposed a glass pyramid to stand over a new entrance in the main court, the Cour Napoléon. The pyramid and its underground lobby were inaugurated on 15 October 1988 and the Louvre Pyramid was completed in 1989. The second phase of the Grand Louvre plan, La Pyramide Inversée (The Inverted Pyramid), was completed in 1993. As of 2002, attendance had doubled since completion.

Louvre Museum Wikimedia Commons
The Louvre Palace and the pyramid (by night)
Paris July 2011-27a
The Louvre Palace and the pyramid (by day)

Famous exhibits

  • Mona Lisa, by Leonardo da Vinci, from C2RMF retouched

    Mona Lisa; by Leonardo da Vinci, c. 1503–1506, perhaps continuing until c. 1517; oil on poplar panel; 77 cm × 53 cm

  • Giuseppe Arcimboldo - Spring, 1573

    Spring; by Giuseppe Arcimboldo; 1573; oil on canvas; 76 × 64 cm

  • MG-Paris-Aphrodite of Milos edited

    The Venus de Milo was added to the Louvre's collection during the reign of Louis XVIII.

  • La Continence de Scipion - Giovanni Battista Pittoni - Q18573892

    The Continence of Scipio; by Giambattista Pittoni; 1733; oil on panel; 96 × 56 cm

  • Jacques-Louis David, Le Serment des Horaces

    Oath of the Horatii; by Jacques-Louis David; 1784; oil on canvas; height: 330 cm, width: 425 cm

  • Jacques-Louis David 006

    The Coronation of Napoleon by Jacques-Louis David

  • Trois têtes d'hommes en relation avec le lion

    Three lion-like heads; by Charles Le Brun; circa 1671; black chalk, pen and ink, brush and gray wash, white gouache on paper; 21.7 × 32,7 cm

  • WATTEAU Antoine - Huit études de têtes de femme, et une tête d'homme

    Studies of Women's Heads and a Man's Head; by Antoine Watteau; first half of the 18th century; sanguine, black chalk and white chalk on gray paper; 28 × 38.1 cm

  • Edgar Germain Hilaire Degas 018

    Danseuse sur la scène; by Edgar Degas; pastel; 58 × 42 cm

  • Matthias Grünewald - Smiling Woman - WGA10822

    Portrait of elderly woman, by Matthias Grünewald

  • Hans Holbein d. J. - Head of a Woman - WGA11590

    Portrait of a young woman، by Hans Holbein

  • Andrea del Sarto - Head of a Young Man - WGA0384

    Head of a man, by Andrea del Sarto

  • Sphinx, Louvre 15 June 2014

    The Great Sphinx of Tanis; circa 2600 BC; rose granite; height: 183 cm, width: 154 cm, thickness: 480 cm

  • Akhenathon and Nefertiti E15593 mp3h8771-gradient

    Akhenaten and Nefertiti; 1345 BC; painted limestone; height: 22.2 cm, width: 12.3 cm, thickness: 9.8 cm

  • Cup Idalion Louvre N3455

    Phoenician metal bowls from Cyprus

  • Ebih-Il Louvre AO17551 n01

    The Statue of Ebih-Il; circa 2400 BC; gypsum, schist, shells and lapis lazuli; height: 52.5 cm

  • P1050763 Louvre code Hammurabi face rwk

    The Code of Hammurabi; 1755–1750 BC; basalt; height: 225 cm, width: 79 cm, thickness: 47 cm

  • Human headed winged bull profile

    Assyrian lamassu (Human-headed winged bull); circa 713–716 BC; 4.2 x 4.4 x 1 m

  • Immortels - dynamosquito

    Frieze of archers, from the Palace of Darius at Susa; circa 510 BC; bricks

  • Head figurine Spedos Louvre Ma2709

    Cycladic head of a woman; 27th century BC; marble; height: 27 cm

  • Victoire de Samothrace - vue de trois-quart gauche, gros plan de la statue (2)

    The Winged Victory of Samothrace; 200–190 BC; Parian marble; 244 cm

  • Spagna, cordoba, pisside col nome di al-mughina, avorio, X sec. 04

    The Pyxis of al-Mughira; 10th century (maybe 968); ivory; 15 x 8 cm

  • Tile with bismillah Louvre AD28001a

    Iranian tile with bismillah; turn of the 13th-14th century; molded ceramic, luster glaze and glaze

  • Siria, bacile detto battistero di s.luigi, 1320-40 ca, firmato muhammad ibn al-zayn, con restauri del 1821, ottone incr. d'oro, arge e pasta nera 01

    The Baptistère de Saint Louis; by Muhammad ibn al-Zayn; 1320–1340; hammering, engraving, inlay in brass, gold, and silver; 50.2 x 22.2 cm

  • Door Louvre AA320 n01

    Door; 15th-16th century; sculpted, painted and gilded walnut wood

  • Tomb of Philippe Pot, Right Side - Louvre, Room 10

    The Tomb of Philippe Pot; 1477 and 1483; limestone, paint, gold and lead; height: 181 cm, width: 260 cm, depth: 167 cm

  • Fame riding Pegasus Coysevox Louvre MR1824

    The King's Fame Riding Pegasus; by Antoine Coysevox; 1701–1702; Carrara marble; height: 3.15 m, width: 2.91 m, depth: 1.28 m

  • Louis XV Coustou Louvre MR1811

    Louis XV as Jupiter; 1731; probably marble; height: 1.95 m, width: 1.20 m, depth: 68 cm

  • Musée du Louvre - Département des Objets d'art - Salle 34 -2

    Louis XIV style cabinet on stand; by André Charles Boulle; circa 1690–1710; oak frame, resinous wood and walnut, ebony veneer, tortoiseshell, brass and pewter marquetry, and ormolu

  • Commode de la comtesse du Barry (Louvre, OA 11293)

    Louis XVI style commode of Madame du Barry; 1772; oak frame, veneer of pearwood, rosewood and kingwood, soft-paste Sèvres porcelain, gilded bronze, white marble, and glass; height: 0.87 m, width: 1.19 m, depth: 0.48 m

  • Baromètre - thermomètre (Louvre, OA 10545)

    Louis XVI style barometer-thermometer; circa 1776; soft-paste Sèvres porcelain, enamel, and ormolu; height: 1 m, width: 0.27 m

  • Quentin Massys 001

    The Money Changer and His Wife; by Quentin Massys; 1514; oil on panel; 70.5 × 67 cm

  • Gebel el-Arak knife mp3h8783-cropped

    The Gebel el-Arak Knife; 3300-3200 BC; handle: elephant ivory, blade: flint; length: 25.8 cm

Images for kids

  • Mona lisa crowd

    Leonardo da Vinci's Mona Lisa is the Louvre's most popular attraction.

  • Paris - Orthophotographie - 2018 - Palais du Louvre 02

    Aerial view of the Louvre Palace and Tuileries Park

  • Donjon chateau louvre

    Below-ground portions of the medieval Louvre are still visible.

  • Giuseppe Castiglione - View of the Grand Salon Carré in the Louvre - WGA4552

    The display in the Salon Carré, painted by Giuseppe Castiglione in 1861 following its repurposing of the late 1840s. Veronese's Wedding at Cana is visible on the left, and his Supper in the House of Simon (now at the Palace of Versailles) on the right

  • Plaques Louvre

    Memorial plaques honoring the Louvre's defenders in May 1871

  • Daru staircase Louvre 2007 05 13

    The Louvre's monumental Escalier Daru, topped by the Winged Victory of Samothrace, took its current appearance in the early 1930s

  • Bundesarchiv Bild 183-L15196, Paris, Besuch Gerd v. Rundstedt im Louvre

    Generalfeldmarschall Gerd von Rundstedt seen with a plaster model of the Venus de Milo, while visiting the Louvre with the curator Alfred Merlin on 7 October 1940

  • Meuble de type borne dans la grande galerie du Louvre

    Seating designed by Pierre Paulin in the late 1960s, Grande Galerie

  • Salon Carré D201805 2

    Marc Saltet [fr]'s 1972 museography for the Salon Carré, with "dos-à-dos" seat designed in 1967 by Pierre Paulin

  • Cy Twombly Ceiling at Louvre Salle des Bronzes

    Ceiling by Cy Twombly installed in 2010 in the Salle des Bronzes, before room redesign in 2021

  • Greek antiquities in the Louvre - Room 11 D201903

    Greek antiquities in Room 11

  • Louvre-CourMarly

    The Cour Marly of the Louvre, where many French sculptures are exhibited

  • Paris - Restoration workshops in the Louvre - 2408

    Restoration workshops in the Louvre

  • Louvre Excavations

    List of excavations that benefited the Louvre (Rotonde d'Apollon)

  • Dernière salle des antiquités égyptiennes (Louvre)

    First room

  • Egyptian antiquities in the Louvre - Room 27 and others

    Room 27

  • Egyptian antiquities in the Louvre - Room 29 D201903

    Room 29

  • Salles des colonnes du Louvre, vue vers l'ouest

    Salle des Colonnes

  • Greek antiquities in the Louvre - Room 35 D201903

    Room 35

  • Room 36 of the Greek antiquities in the Louvre

    Room 36

  • Greek antiquities in the Louvre - Room 38 D201903

    Room 38

  • LOUVRE Museum (interior) Paris (1)

    Escalier Mollien in the New Louvre

  • P1080712 Louvre salle romaine rwk

    Salle des Empereurs

  • Louvre Courtyard, Looking West

    The Napoleon Courtyard and I. M. Pei's pyramid in its center, at dusk.

  • Pavillon des Sessions 01

    The Pavillon des Sessions's display of non-Western art from the Musée du Quai Branly, opened in 2000

  • Cour Visconti (Louvre) D201512a

    The Cour Visconti's ground floor covered to host the new Islamic Art Department in 2012

  • Les arts de lIslam au Louvre (8055981963)

    Islamic art display in the covered Cour Visconti, 2012

  • Louvre, dipartimento di arte islamica, 01

    Underground display of the Islamic Art Department, 2012

See also

Kids robot.svg In Spanish: Museo del Louvre para niños

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