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
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.
Images for kids
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Below-ground portions of the medieval Louvre are still visible.
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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
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The Louvre Pyramid
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Leonardo da Vinci's Mona Lisa is the Louvre's most popular attraction.
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Restoration workshops in the Louvre.
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The Louvre Palace
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The Seated Scribe from Saqqara, Egypt, limestone and alabaster, circa 2600 and 2350 BC
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Human-headed winged bull (shedu), Assyria, limestone, 8th century BC.
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The Nike of Samothrace (Winged Victory), marble, circa 190 BC
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Casket, ivory and silver, Muslim Spain, 966
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Yombe sculpture, 19th century
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French stained glass panel, 13th century, depicting Saint Blaise
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The Mona Lisa (Leonardo da Vinci), oil on panel, 1503–1519, probably completed while the artist was at the court of Francis I.
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Three lion-like heads, Charles le Brun, France, pen and wash on squared paper, 1671
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Map of Louvre museum and around, showing bus stops and metro lines serving the area as well as parking.
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Cycladic, a votive head, 2700–2300 BC
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Egyptian, stele, Priest burning incense before Ra-Horakhty-Atum, ca. 900 BC
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Ancient Persia, the Ibex Rhyton, 600–300 BC
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Ancient Greek, Athens, The Rampin Rider,
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Hellenic Near East, The Eros Medallion, ca. 250–200 BC
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Fayum Egyptian, Fayum mummy portrait
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Roman, portrait of Marcus Agrippa, 25 BC
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Frankish, ivory, Christ between two apostles, 5th century
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Islamic art from Iraq, terracotta cup, 9th century
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Romanesque art from Maastricht, Reliquary, 11th century
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Romanesque architecture from France, St Michael and the Devil, 12th century
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Italian Renaissance painting, St Francis receiving the stigmata, Giotto, c.1300
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Early Netherlandish painting, The Annunciation, Rogier van der Weyden, 1435
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Gothic art from France, The Pieta of Villeneuve les Avignon, Enguerrand Quarton, 1460
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Italian Renaissance painting, Portrait of an old man and his grandson, Ghirlandaio, 1488
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Flemish painting, The Money Changer and His Wife, Quentin Massys, 1514
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Italian Renaissance painting, Baltasar de Castiglione, Raphael, c.1515
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Venetian Mannerist painting, The Crucifixion, Paolo Veronese, c.1550
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Italian Baroque painting, The Fortune Teller, Caravaggio, c.1600
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English painting, Charles I at the Hunt, van Dyck, 1635
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Spanish painting, Infanta María Margarita, Velázquez, 1655
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French Classicism, The Shepherds of Arcadia, Poussin, c.1640
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