The Louvre Museum

Sunday 15 December 2013

    The Louvre is one of the world's largest museums, with an area of 60,600 square metres, and a historic monument. With more than 8 million visitors each year, the Louvre is the world's most visited museum.

     The museum is housed in the Louvre Palace, originally built as a fortress in the late 12th century under Philip II. The building was altered frequently throughout the Middle Ages to form the present Louvre Palace.

     In 1682, Louis XIV chose the Palace of Versailles for his household, leaving the Louvre primarily as a place to display the royal collection. By the mid-18th century there was an increasing number of proposals to create a public gallery. And on 14 October 1750, Louis XV agreed and sanctioned a display of 96 pieces from the royal collection. Many proposals were offered for the Louvre's renovation into a museum, however none was agreed on.

      It was during the French Revolution that the Louvre was transformed into a public museum. In May 1791, the Louvre was declared "a place for bringing together monuments of all the sciences and arts".

   The museum opened on 10 August 1793, with an exhibition of 537 paintings, the majority of the works being royal and confiscated church property.

The collection was increased under Napoleon I and during the reigns of Louis XVIII and Charles X. By 1870 the museum had added 20,000 new pieces to its collections.

      By 1874, the Louvre Palace had achieved its present form of an almost rectangular structure. In 1983, French President François Mitterrand proposed the Grand Louvre plan to renovate the building and relocate the Finance Ministry, allowing displays throughout the building. Architect Ieoh Ming Pei proposed a glass pyramid to stand over a new entrance in the main court, the Cour Napoléon. The pyramid and its underground lobby were inaugurated on 15 October 1988. The second phase of the Grand Louvre plan, La Pyramide Inversée (The Inverted Pyramid), was completed in 1993.

     Now, the Louvre contains more than 380,000 objects and displays 35,000 works of art in eight curatorial departments: Egyptian Antiquities; Near Eastern Antiquities; Greek, Etruscan, and Roman Antiquities; Islamic Art; Sculpture; Decorative Arts; Paintings; Prints and Drawings.

      The Louvre is a beautiful place that I will certainly visit as soon as the opportunity arises.

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