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    The Louvre Museum (1793) Paris, France

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    Aaron
    The Louvre Museum in Paris began as a medieval fortress built in 1190, which was later transformed into a royal palace in the 15th century. It first opened as a public museum in 1793 during the French Revolution. Today it contains over 380,000 works of art and artifacts and is one of the largest art museums in the world. Notable parts of its architecture include Claude Perrault's eastern colonnade from the 17th century and I.M. Pei's glass pyramid built in the late 1980s, which serves as the museum's main entrance.

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    The Louvre Museum (1793) Paris, France

    Uploaded by

    Aaron
    100 views4 pages
    The Louvre Museum in Paris began as a medieval fortress built in 1190, which was later transformed into a royal palace in the 15th century. It first opened as a public museum in 1793 during the French Revolution. Today it contains over 380,000 works of art and artifacts and is one of the largest art museums in the world. Notable parts of its architecture include Claude Perrault's eastern colonnade from the 17th century and I.M. Pei's glass pyramid built in the late 1980s, which serves as the museum's main entrance.

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    The Louvre Museum in Paris began as a medieval fortress built in 1190, which was later transformed into a royal palace in the 15th century. It first opened as a public museum in 1793 during the French Revolution. Today it contains over 380,000 works of art and artifacts and is one of the largest art museums in the world. Notable parts of its architecture include Claude Perrault's eastern colonnade from the 17th century and I.M. Pei's glass pyramid built in the late 1980s, which serves as the museum's main entrance.

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    © All Rights Reserved
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    100 views4 pages

    The Louvre Museum (1793) Paris, France

    Uploaded by

    Aaron
    The Louvre Museum in Paris began as a medieval fortress built in 1190, which was later transformed into a royal palace in the 15th century. It first opened as a public museum in 1793 during the French Revolution. Today it contains over 380,000 works of art and artifacts and is one of the largest art museums in the world. Notable parts of its architecture include Claude Perrault's eastern colonnade from the 17th century and I.M. Pei's glass pyramid built in the late 1980s, which serves as the museum's main entrance.

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    © All Rights Reserved
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    The Louvre Museum (1793)

    Paris, France
    The Louvre

    The Louvre Museum (Musée du Louvre) in Paris, France, is one of the largest and most famous
    museums in the world. The building, a former royal palace, lies in the center of Paris, between
    the Seine river and the Rue de Rivoli. Its central courtyard, now occupied by the Louvre glass
    pyramid, lies in the axis of the Champs-Élysées, and thus forms the nucleus from which the Axe
    historic springs. Part of the royal Palace of the Louvre was first opened to the public as a
    museum on November 8, 1793, during the French Revolution.

    The first royal "Castle of the Louvre" on this site was founded by Philippe II in 1190, as a
    fortress to defend Paris on its west against Viking attacks. In the 14th century, Charles V turned
    it into a palace of the arts, but Francois I and Henri II tore it down to build a real palace; the
    foundations of the original fortress tower are now under the Salle des Cariatides (Room of the
    Caryatids).

    The existing part of the Château du Louvre was begun in 1546. The architect Pierre Lescot
    introduced to Paris the new design vocabulary of the Renaissance, which had been developed in
    the châteaux of the Loire. His new wing for the old castle defined its status, as the first among
    the royal palaces. J. A. du Cerceau also worked on the Louvre.

    During his reign (1589-1610), King Henri IV added the Grande Galerie. More than a quarter of a
    mile long and one hundred feet wide, this huge addition was built along the bank of the Seine
    River and at the time was the longest edifice of its kind in the world. Henri IV, a promoter of the
    arts, invited hundreds of artists and craftsmen to live and work on the building's lower floors.
    This tradition continued for another two hundred years until Napoleon ended it. 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 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 the Louvre Museum.

    Commissioned by King Louis XIV, architect Claude Perrault's eastern wing (1665-1680),
    crowned by an uncompromising Italian balustrade along its distinctly non-French flat roof, was a
    ground-breaking departure in French architecture. His severe design was chosen over a design
    provided by the great Bernini, who came to Paris for the purpose. Perrault had translated the
    Roman architect Vitruvius into French. Now Perrault's rhythmical paired columns form a
    shadowed colonnade with a central pedimented triumphal arch entrance raised on a high, rather
    defensive basement, in a restrained classicizing baroque manner that has provided models for
    grand edifices in Europe and America for centuries. The Metropolitan Museum in New York, for
    one example, reflects Perrault's Louvre design.

    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, restlessly
    charged with detail everywhere and laden with sculpture. Work continued until 1876. In 1989,
    the Crystal Pyramid was inaugurated. It was designed and built by Ieoh Ming Pei. It was the first
    renovation of the Grand Louvre Project. Today, many renovations are taking place. One of the
    most recent was the renovation of the Carre Gallery, where the Mona Lisa is exhibited. The
    Louvre holds the rich artistic heritage of the French people from the early Capetian Kings
    through the Empire of Napoleon Bonaparte and to the present day.

    Long managed by the French state under the Réunion des Musées Nationaux the Louvre has
    recently acquired powers of self-management as an "Etablissement Public Autonome" in order to
    better manage its growth. Since September 14, 2005, the Louvre museum has gradually
    forbidden the taking of photos of its artworks.

    Among the thousands of priceless paintings is Leonardo da Vinci's Mona Lisa, perhaps the most
    famous painting in the world; it is housed in the Salle des Etats in a climate-controlled
    environment behind protective glass. Works of artists like Fragonard, Rembrandt, Rubens,
    Titian, Poussin, and David can also be seen. Among the well-known sculptures in the collection
    are the Winged Victory of Samothrace and the Venus de Milo. The collection of Baron Edmond
    de Rothschild (1845-1934), given to the Louvre in 1935, fills an exhibition room. It contains
    more than 40,000 engravings, nearly 3,000 drawings and 500 illustrated books.

    Besides art, the Louvre has many other types of exhibits, including archeology, history, and
    architecture. It has a large furniture collection, whose most spectacular item used to be the
    Bureau du Roi of the 18th century, now returned to the Palace of Versailles.

    Architecture of the Louvre

    "Although today its collection is the most interesting part of the museum, the building
    itself is an important exhibit, too," said Gudek Snajdar. The building is primarily of
    Renaissance and French Classical style, she said. The first medieval elements from the
    old fortress can still be seen underground, beneath the pyramid, around the lobby area. 

    "Probably its most famous part is Claude Perrault's 'Colonnade' on the eastern façade
    of Louvre," said Gudek Snajdar. "It was built in the 17 th century and it's a wonderful
    example of a French Classicism. It's composed of paired Corinthian columns with
    pavilions at the corners of the facade." She said had influenced many buildings — the
    U.S. Capitol in Washington, D.C., and the Metropolitan Museum in New York being just
    some of them.

    The Louvre pyramid

    In 1983, the Louvre underwent a renovation plan known as the Grand Louvre, according
    to History.com Part of the plan called for a new design for the main entrance. Architect
    I.M. Pei was awarded the project, and he designed an underground lobby and modern
    glass pyramid structure in the courtyard. Inaugurated in 1988, the pyramid would
    become a celebrated element of the landmark museum's design. "It is my personal
    favorite," said Gudek Snajdar. "Combining traditional style with modern architecture, it
    shows the Louvre's timeless beauty."

    In 1993, the Inverted Pyramid, a skylight dipping into the underground lobby, was
    unveiled, according to the Louvre website.

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