The Louvre

Palais-Royal-Musée du Louvre,
Paris
IIe-de-France
France
75058
+33 1 40 20 57 60

http://www.louvre.fr

Type: Museum
Addmission Fee: €9, €6 from 6 pm to 9:45 pm, €9.50 for exhibitions in the Hall Napoléon
Hours: Daily from 7 am to 11 pm

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The Louvre is the largest museum in the world, with a total area of almost 100 acres, including 650,000 square feet of exhibition rooms. To tackle this behemoth efficiently, a bit of preparation is in order.

Countless books have been written on the many aspects of the Louvre’s complex and fascinating history (a number of good ones written in English can be found in the museum’s bookshop). For casual sightseeing purposes, it’s helpful to keep in mind a few essential historical points:

Philippe August built the Louvre as a fortress just outside the city walls in the 12th century to protect Paris from Viking raids. This original structure fit inside the Cour Carré. The oldest foundations and moat walls, discovered during construction in the 1980s, have been restored and can be seen throughout the lower ground floor of the museum.

The Louvre didn’t become a royal palace until the 16th century under François I, who razed the tower and added two new wings. Later that century, Catherine de Medicis had her own palace built in the Tuileries, which Henri IV joined to the Louvre in 1594 to form a monumental double palace.

Louis XIV was the last king to put his mark on the Louvre before virtually abandoning it in 1678, when he moved the royal seat of power to Versailles. The Louvre began its first step toward becoming a museum in the 18th century, when the abandoned palace developed as an artists'; residence and academy with public exhibitions of the royal collections. After the Revolution, it was officially declared a museum under the First Republic in 1793. In the 19th century, Napoleon I evicted the artists and academics living in the Louvre, and renamed it the Musée Napoleon, stocking it full of “souvenir” artworks pilfered during his various conquests (which the Allies made him return after his defeat at Waterloo in 1815). Improvements to the museum were continued under the Restoration and Napoleon III’s Second Empire.

An extensive renovation project spanning the last two decades of the 20th century transformed the museum into the Grand Louvre. Significant changes included the addition of the Pei Pyramid entrance and the Carrousel du Louvre commercial center, the excavation of the medieval foundations, and the opening of the Richelieu Wing (formerly occupied by the Ministry of Finance).

The Louvre Museum's main entrance at the pyramid (via 99 Rue de Rivoli, 1st) is open from 9am until closing. If you don’t want to stand in line outside, enter through the Carrousel du Louvre commercial center (open till 10 pm, entrances at 99 Rue de Rivoli, in the Jardins du Carrousel, or directly from the métro Palais-Royal, exit 1). The Porte des Lions (on the Quai des Tuileries near the Batobus stop) is open 9am to 5:30pm except on Tuesdays and Fridays.

And visitors with pre-purchased tickets or museum passes can enter at the Passage Richelieu (between the Cour Napoleon and the Place du Palais-Royal), from 9am to 6pm. Please note that the museum is closed on Tuesdays.