The history of the Louvre began in 1190 when the then King of France, Philippe II Auguste, build a fortress to protect Paris, the kingdom's capital. Is was later used as the house for his successors. When the Renaissance came, it became unfashionable for a King to live in a defensive castle built in the Middle Ages ; thus, Francois I had the main tower destroyed in 1526, and in 1546 he had a more modern and luxurious palace built by Pierre Lescot. The Louvre was continuously expanded by later kings, in the direction of the close-by palace of the Tuileries, until Louis XIV moved the capital to Versailles. Then the palace began to be the showcase for the royal collections of paintings, sculptures and other art objects, though only the priviligied few had access to it.
However with the French Revolution, ideas of art for the masses gained popularity, and in 1793 the Louvre was opened officialy as a museum. Thanks to the success of Napoleon in his wars throughout Europe, many masterpieces were added to the museum's collections. Thereafter, and until very recently, the museum remained unchanged, acquiring new paintings in a space that wasn't getting larger, having to accomodate more and more visitors each year. When Francois Mitterrand became president, he, much like the King of old, decided to change the palace. The Grand Louvre project, which included the construction of a controversial glass pyramid designed by I.M.Pei, was finished in 1997 ; now the whole of the building is devoted to the exhibition of art, making it one of the largest museums in the world, along the Hermitage museum in St. Petersburg, and a few others.
So large that if you intend to have more than a cursory glance at the most famous object, you must consider spending at least a whole day visiting the museum. Another problem is that since it is one of the main tourist attractions in Paris, and that tourists are not rare in Paris, you will probably have to wait in the long queue besides the pyramid. On the other hand, the Louvre does not hold all of the artworks that are to be seen in Paris. It stops in 1848 ; later work is exhibited in the Musee d'Orsay, and the most recent contemporary art is to be found in the Pompidou Centre.
Yet you will be able to see many masterpieces besides the Mona Lisa - as this one is quite hard to see, behind bulletproof glass and rows of japanese tourists.
- Sculptures and pottery from Ancient Egypt, Greece and Rome ; the most famouse of these works being the Victory of Samothrace, but you can also see the Venus of Milo.
- 6000 European paintings including works by Leonardo da Vinci, William Turner, Thomas Gainsborough, Rembrandt van Rijn, Johannes Vermeer, Peter Paul Rubens, Jan Van Eyck, Raphael, Veronese, Eugene Delacroix, Ingres...
- It also shows sketches and drawings made by some of the aforementioned artists, and others.
- There are also many "Objets d'art" : furnitures, jewelry (the very big diamond called Regent), tapestries...
- You can also see "recent" sculptures, some by Michelangelo, or by Donatello
- Finally, the Louvre exhibits some art from more exotic cultures such as the arabic, African or chinese...