The Louvre Museum is one of the most visited attractions in Paris. It attracts around 10 million visitors annually. The reason for this popularity lies in its collection of 35,000 masterpieces and priceless ancient artifacts, including Iranian antiquities housed in the Louvre.
The Louvre Museum (French: Musée du Louvre) is the largest art museum and a historic monument located in the center of Paris, France. It is one of the famous landmarks of France and Paris, situated on the right bank of the River Seine in the 1st arrondissement of Paris. The museum houses over 38,000 artworks ranging from prehistory to the 21st century, displayed in an area covering more than 72,735 square meters. In 2017, the Louvre, with 8.1 million visitors, was listed among the most visited museums in the world.
The museum is actually located in the Louvre Palace, which began construction in the late 12th to early 13th century under King Philip II as a fortress. Today, remnants of these fortifications and the castle are visible in the museum's basement. As the city expanded and due to its location, the defensive importance of the Louvre Palace diminished, and in 1546 it became the residence of King Francis I, marking the beginning of its transformation into the royal residence. The current Louvre Palace has undergone several expansions. In 1682, King Louis XIV moved his residence to the Palace of Versailles and turned the Louvre into a place to showcase royal grandeur, including the display of Greek and Roman antiquities.
From 1692, the building became home to the French Academy of Inscriptions and Ancient Languages and the Royal Academy of Painting and Sculpture, which are considered the first curators of the museum. These academies have remained in the museum for over 100 years. During the French Revolution, the National Assembly decided to use the Louvre to display the country’s masterpieces. Since 1793, the Louvre has been operating as a "public museum."
The Louvre Museum focuses on art, human history, and culture, and houses many significant works, such as the Code of Hammurabi, the painting "The Virgin of the Rocks," and the "Mona Lisa" by Leonardo da Vinci. The museum's building consists of three wings and five floors.
The Louvre is the largest museum in the world, so vast that it is impossible to see all its works in a single visit. If you spent 30 seconds on each artwork, it would take you 100 days to see them all, and you'd have to spend every hour of the day at the museum. The museum holds around 380,000 works, but not all are on display.
The Louvre is so popular that it hosts about 15,000 visitors daily, with 70% of them being international. The highest attendance was in 2018, with 10.2 million visitors.
The Louvre Museum building was originally not a museum. It was a castle built in 1190 that was transformed into a royal palace in the 16th century. Four years after the French Revolution, in 1793, the Louvre Palace became a museum, opening its doors to the public. At first, the museum displayed only 537 paintings.
Napoleon renamed the Louvre Museum to the "Musée Napoléon" and expanded its collection by adding 5,000 more works. After Napoleon's defeat, these works were returned to their original owners. Napoleon had hung the "Mona Lisa" in his personal room, making it the first time the painting was displayed on a wall. The second time was when Jacqueline Kennedy loaned it for exhibitions in Washington and New York museums.
The "Mona Lisa," by Leonardo da Vinci, is undoubtedly one of the most famous artworks in the Louvre and the world. People from all over the world visit the Louvre to see this iconic painting. It is often mistakenly thought to be larger than it is, but it measures only 53 x 77 cm, slightly larger than an A2 sheet of paper. In 1911, a museum employee stole the painting and hid it for two years. After two years, the thief, an Italian, and the painting were found in Italy. Today, the "Mona Lisa" has its own bodyguards and is protected by bulletproof glass.
The identity of the Mona Lisa remains mysterious, and no one knows exactly why she smiles in the way she does. Many believe she was the wife of Francesco del Giocondo and that her real Italian name was Lisa Giocondo. Others believe the painting is a self-portrait of Da Vinci.
The Louvre’s galleries display around 7,500 paintings across more than 6 hectares of space, 66% of which are works by French artists. The galleries are divided into eight sections: Near Eastern Antiquities, Egyptian Antiquities, Greek, Roman and Etruscan Antiquities, Islamic Art, Sculptures, Decorative Arts, Paintings, and Prints and Drawings.
One of the most famous paintings in the Louvre is "Liberty Leading the People" by Eugène Delacroix, which depicts the celebration after the 1830 Revolution. This painting was designed as a political poster. Delacroix also included a self-portrait in the painting, as he is the man with the top hat on the left side.
During World War II, the Nazis used the Louvre as a warehouse for stolen artworks.
The Louvre is believed to be haunted by the ghost of a mummy named Belphegor, and it is said that the Tuileries Gardens are haunted by a man in red.
The glass pyramid of the Louvre was built in 1989 and stands 21 meters tall. Made entirely of glass and metal, the pyramid sparked controversy but is now one of the city's most iconic landmarks. The architect of the pyramid, Ieoh Ming Pei, was the first non-French architect to work on the Louvre.
In Paris, there is a 5-kilometer historical line extending westward, starting from the Louvre, known as the "Historic Axis" or "L'Axe Historique," which includes the Tuileries Gardens, the Obelisk at Concorde Square, the Arc de Triomphe, and the Grand Arch of La Défense.
There are two Louvre museums in the world: one in Paris and another in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates. The Louvre Abu Dhabi began operations in 2017 and works closely with the Louvre Museum in Paris and the French Ministry of Culture.
The Louvre Museum is undoubtedly one of the famous symbols of Paris, attracting many visitors with its incredible collection. The Louvre is one of the most visited attractions in Paris, with approximately 10 million visitors annually. The reason for its popularity is its collection of 35,000 masterpieces and priceless ancient artifacts, including Iranian antiquities in the Louvre. The museum showcases works dating from 11,000 years ago to the 19th century. We hope you enjoyed reading this, and stay tuned with Saad News.
