Louvre Museum

The Louvre Museum used to be a palace, but was transformed in the late 1700s into one of the largest and most popular public museums. It is located in the center of Paris and has around 35,000 objects displayed in the museum, many of which are European paintings and sculptures. Other sections include Roman, Egyptian, Greek and Oriental art. The Venus of Milo, the Mona Lisa, and the Dying Slave are a few of the famous works that are displayed in the Louvre.

In the 14th century, the Louvre was created as a royal palace. Since then, it has been renovated and additions have been made to the original building. In the 19th century, yet another renovation took place, and the Richelieu wing was added. Now, the Louvre has four symmetric wings that are formed around a large, central courtyard. However, in 1871, the Communards (members and supports of the Paris Commune, which was a short-lived government body that formed during the Franco-Persian War) burned the Tuileries palace and opened the west side of the building. The art collection in the Louvre was established in the 16th century by King Francis I, and one of the works he purchased was the Mona Lisa. The private collection owned by the royal family was opened to the public in 1793 during the French Revolution.

The glass pyramid was the most recent addition to the Louvre Museum. This pyramid creates the entrance to the museum and was built in 1989 by I.M. Pei. Because it’s architecture is quite different from the rest of the museum, the glass pyramid was initially received with both positive and negative reviews, but it has come to be widely accepted as a strong addition to the museum.

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