Louvre Museum, Museum in Paris, France

 

The Louvre was originally built as a fortress in 1190, but was reconstructed in the 16th century to serve as a royal palace. "Like many buildings, it was built and rebuilt over the years," said Tea Gudek Snajdar, an Amsterdam-based art historian, museum docent and a blogger at Culture Tourist. 

6 SECRETS OF THE LOUVRE

1. Once upon a time, it was originally a palace

In the mid-16th century, Francios I commissioned the Louvre Palace to be built over the site of a former Medieval 12th-century fortress. All subsequent kings occupied the palace until Louis XIV built the Palace of Versailles. This became the main residence of the French monarch, leaving the unoccupied Louvre to become a stomping ground for squatters. It opened partially as a museum in 1793, during the revolution, and the whole building officially opened as a museum in 1993. 

2. It’s home to a school

The École du Louvre, located in the museum itself, is a higher educational institution that lets art enthusiasts study archaeology, art history, anthropology, and epigraphy among one of the esteemed and dreamiest backdrops. Needless to say, it’s quite competitive and while many begin their studies immediately after high school, university students who have at least two or three years of education under their belt in certain subjects may apply and transfer.

3. Napoleonic booty

It’s no secret that Napoleon was a conquerer and during his conquests, he plundered lots of art and many of these works are displayed at the museum today. He went to town when he invaded Italy and took many of the country’s masterpieces for himself. Paolo Veronese’s Wedding Feast at Cana (1553) is the museum’s largest painting and hangs just opposite the Mona Lisa . You can gaze at it for a hours and still feel like you haven’t fully taken it in. He pilfered this from the refectory of San Giorgio Maggiore in Venice and it was so large, that he actually had it cut in half so he could bring it back to Paris.

4. Pyramid controversy

Nowadays, I.M. Pei’s glass pyramid outside the Louvre is just as emblematic of Paris as the Eiffel Tower. But it wasn’t so beloved following the 1989 reveal. Many considered the pyramid, along with its two diminutive counterparts, a sacrilegious eyesore. The critics claimed the juxtaposition of the contemporary structure against the older architecture robbed the latter of its integrity. However, life went on and the pyramid has prevailed.

5. It has a sister in the Middle East

The Louvre in Paris isn’t the only Louvre in the world: the Jean Nouvel-designed Louvre Abu Dhabi opened in 2017 as part of a joint venture between the governments of the United Arab Emirates and France that permits the UAE to use the Louvre name for 30 years, an arrangement that was ten years in the making. The museum displays more than 600 artworks, with 300 rotating works that are part of the four annual temporary exhibits organized by 13 French museum partners. It also boasts an interesting design component: a dome that’s 180 meters in diameter and comprised of 8,000 geometric, through which sunlight in the shape of stars shines on the museum patrons.

6. A wartime evacuation

During World War II, Jacques Jaujard, the museum’s director, had the foresight to thwart the imminent Nazi occupation. Hitler loved art and the Nazis notoriously pillaged on his behalf, so Jaujard organized the relocation of 4,000 of the most valuable artworks. They were taken to the Loire Valley and hidden in the Chateau de Chambord during the war. To keep the treasured Mona Lisa extra safe, he marked it with a secret code and made sure not to indicate the crate carrying it. When he later transferred the work to the Château de Louvigny, the second of several wartime hiding places, it was concealed on an ambulance stretcher.

A historic building

The Pavillon de l’Horloge is the architectural heart of the Louvre palace. Designed by the architect Jacques Lemercier, it was built during the reign of Louis XIII (1610–1643) but only acquired the name ‘Pavillon de l’Horloge’ (‘Clock Pavilion’) in the 19th century, when clocks were added to the two main facades.

At 40 metres high, it is the highest point of the Louvre – a reminder of the keep belonging to the original medieval fortress, demolished in the 16th century when King François I converted the Louvre into a Renaissance palace. The historic Pavillon de l’Horloge is the ideal location for a presentation of the Louvre’s 800-year history. Four rooms, distributed over three floors, tell the story of the museum, its collections and its current activities.

The architecture of the Louvre

The story begins near the remains of the first Louvre, a medieval fortress built by King Philippe-Auguste in about 1200. Follow the fortress wall to find the Salle de la Maquette, dedicated to the architecture of the Louvre. The presentation explains the many transformations that have marked the history of the palace and the ornamental additions made by great artists, from Jean Goujon who carved many decorative elements in the 16th century to Jean-Baptiste Carpeaux who designed sculptures for the Pavillon de Flore three centuries later. There are also traces of the Tuileries palace, commissioned by Queen Catherine de’ Medici during the Renaissance and burned down in 1871 during the Paris Commune.

The Salle Saint-Louis: the oldest room in the palace

The foundations of the keep that was demolished in 1528 are still visible. The nearby room known as the Salle Saint-Louis is the oldest in the palace; its name derives from traces of decoration that have been dated to the reign of Saint Louis (1226–1270). The room displays everyday objects found during the archaeological excavations that were carried out between 1983 and 1993 as part of the Grand Louvre project; the finds range from a gilded parade helmet attributed to King Charles VI to a simple pair of children’s shoes.

Louvre médiéval, salle Saint-Louis

The organisation of the collections

The Salle de la Chapelle, on the first floor of the pavilion, is now a museum room; its name is the only trace of the chapel built here between 1655 and 1659 on the orders of Louis XIV.

Its display presents the history and diversity of the museum’s collections, how they were formed and how they are organised within the palace. Each collection – Egyptian Antiquities, Decorative Arts, Paintings, Sculptures, Islamic Art, etc. – is represented by a selection of artworks.

The Salle de la Chapelle also offers one of the finest views of the Pyramid, the gardens and, in the distance the Champs Élysées, the Arc de Triomphe and the business district of La Défense.

A living museum

The Salle d’Actualité (‘news room’) on the second floor of the Pavillon de l’Horloge presents the museum’s current activities and missions: conservation projects, new acquisitions, research, and news of the Louvre’s national and international outreach, through the Louvre Abu Dhabi and the Louvre-Lens in particular.

The museum obviously has to provide the best possible conditions for its artworks – but another priority is to make its visitors feel welcome. People have flocked to the Louvre for over two centuries; from art specialists to novices, in crinolines or jeans, visitors are an essential part of the museum’s life! And sometimes they become works of art in their turn, featured in paintings as they explore the museum and admire its displays…

Before it acquired the clock (horloge) that gave it its name, the Pavillon de l’Horloge was known as the ‘Large Pavilion’ because of its size. Since the 19th century, it has also been referred to as the ‘Pavillon de Sully’ (in honour of the Duc de Sully, chief minister to King Henri IV). Sully is also the name of the wing that houses the pavilion.

The former first-floor chapel has an impressive wrought-iron gate dating from the 17th century. It came from the Château de Maisons (now Maisons-Laffitte) near Saint-Germain-en-Laye to the west of Paris, and was added to the chapel in 1819 by Pierre Fontaine, an architect who worked on most of the Louvre’s construction projects from the First Empire until 1848.

Another gate from the same château guards the entrance to the Galerie d’Apollon.

The Mona Lisa

The portrait assumed to be of the wife of Francesco del Giocondo is considered to be the most famous painting in the world. The theft of this canvas by Leonardo da Vinci in the 19th century and the mystery surrounding its origin never fail to draw the crowds.

The Louvre palace was begun by King Francis I in 1546 on the site of a 12th-century fortress built by King Philip II. Francis was a great art collector, and the Louvre was to serve as his royal residence.

The Louvre's main entrance is the pyramid in the courtyard. Louvre Porte des Lions entrance. Far less busy at the third and fourth locations on my list, the spots often referred to as the legendary "Secret entrances to the Louvre". One of them is the entrance at Passage Richelieu (off Rue Rivoli).

At the climax of the 2006 film adaptation, the camera elaborately moves through the entire glass pyramid from above and then descends beneath the floor below to reveal the supposed hidden chamber under the tiny stone pyramid, containing the sarcophagus with the remains of Mary Magdalene.

Polished up for a supporting role in the film version of The Da Vinci Code, they played the fictional Rose Line. After that, Dan Brown's fans sought them out. They even looked for them at the Church of St. Sulpice, which figures in The Da Vinci Code but is not on the Paris Meridian.

The Da Vinci Code" is the fictional story of a conspiracy -- perpetrated by the Catholic Church and ongoing for 2,000 years -- to hide the truth about Jesus. Certain clues emerge through the works of Leonardo Da Vinci.

After sunset on May 31, 1983, and before dawn the next morning, a showcase at the Louvre was broken into and two pieces of 16th-century Italian armor were stolen in one of the most mysterious heists in the museum's history.

This is one of the Louvre Museum's treasures. Acquired in 1902, it came from the church of Saint Mary Magdalene in the Dominican convent of Augsburg. She was originally accompanied by sculpted angels. It is said that Mary Magdalene was clothed only by her own hair.