The Musée du Louvre is unquestionably one of the world’s great museums (some would say the greatest, and I for one couldn’t think of a convincing argument to the contrary) and, at 652,000 square feet, also one of the largest. In fact it is so large that I’ve split the coverage of it into two pages. It is also the most-visited art museum in the world, with 8.5 million annual visitors (as of 2010). It didn’t start out as any kind of museum, though.

The origins of the word “Louvre” seem to be somewhat fuzzy, but in modern French it seems pretty clear that it doesn’t mean anything except “that gigantic museum on the right bank of the Seine”. The building was first established in the 12th Century as a much smaller fortress for defense of the Seine’s right bank from northern invaders. This original building, which was located where the eastern end of the Louvre is now, has been replaced, though some of its foundations are still visible to visitors.

The building was converted to a royal residence, and was enlarged in the 14th Century by Charles V. In the 16th Century, Francis I had the old structures removed and replaced by a building in the French Renaissance style. He also began an art collection, acquiring (among other pieces) da Vinci’s Mona Lisa. In the same century Catherine de’ Medici had a palace built to the west of the Louvre, called the Palais des Tuileries. Around the beginning of the 17th Century, Henry IV had an immense, quarter-mile-long corridor built along the Seine’s bank to connect the Louvre and the Tuileries palace. He also invited artists and craftsmen to live and work on the lower floor of this corridor. Later in this same century, Louis XIII and Louis XIV added to the construction, until Louis XIV moved the royal residence to Versailles. This allowed for more artists to move in. Under Louis XV and Louis XVI the idea grew to convert the building into a museum, but this didn’t happen until the French Revolution, with the museum opening in 1793. At this time the collection included items confiscated from the monarchy and various aristocrats, and Napoleon was to add to it with items captured (some might say “looted”) during his campaigns. The museum was renamed the Musée Napoléon. Napoleon also had a triumphal arch, called the Arc de Triomphe du Carrousel, constructed in the Louvre courtyard, and had four famous bronze horses from St. Mark’s Basilica in Venice mounted on top of it.

Arc de Triomphe du Carrousel Med   Lrg   Xlg

Horses Atop Arch Med   Lrg   Xlg

He also began construction of another long corridor to match the one along the Seine, which would eventually create an immense courtyard, enclosed by the Louvre and the Tuileries palace.

After Napoleon went away in 1815, much artwork (including the bronze horses - the current ones are copies) had to be returned to places from which it had been appropriated, but subsequent French leaders continued to add to the Louvre collection through more legitimate means. In 1871, violence associated with the Paris Commune resulted in the Tuileries palace being burned down, and it was never rebuilt. This left the western end of the Louvre courtyard open to the Tuileries Gardens, which remain today as public gardens. As World War II approached, people began to fear for the safety of the Louvre collection, so beginning in 1939, pieces began to disappear from the museum, moving to secret places of safety throughout the country. When the Nazis (notorious art collectors) marched in in 1940, they were disappointed to find an empty Louvre. After the war, nearly all of the art magically reappeared.

In 1983, a more central entrance to the museum, with underground access, was proposed. The job was awarded to American architect I.M. Pei, whose design included a glass pyramid in the middle of the courtyard. Many Parisians (and others) were outraged by the idea, but it happened anyway. The pyramid entrance opened in 1988, and has become an accepted (and even admired) fixture. Also underground, a shopping mall called the Carrousel du Louvre has appeared, opening in 1993. A number of shopping mall type stores are tenants, including France’s first Apple store and even a McDonald’s (many Parisians are not so happy about this).

Pyramid Entrance Med   Lrg   Xlg

Shopping at the Louvre Med   Lrg   Xlg

On arriving at the Louvre, we were able to find the Museum Pass entrance without much trouble (it’s in the Richelieu wing, to the north) and had to pass through a metal detector. We found non-flash photography to be allowed. On visiting the Louvre, it’s good to have a plan – as mentioned above, the place is huge, and it’s simply not possible to see everything in a few hours. We didn’t really have a plan when we got there, but we picked up maps, headed for a skylit area we saw and reconnoitered. We found ourselves surrounded by French sculptures, which we decided were interesting but not our first priority.

French Sculptures Med   Lrg   Xlg

Mercury, Antoine Coysevox (1702) Med   Lrg   Xlg

We figured out where we were and what we were near and what we most wanted to see (mainly antiquities and paintings) and set off with a tentative route in mind.
In addition to art from the past few centuries, the Louvre has an extensive collection of antiquities from the Middle East, Egypt and the Mediterranean area. Our route first took us through the Middle Eastern antiquities.

The Code of Hammurabi, Mesopotamia (12th C. B.C.) Med   Lrg	The Code of Hammurabi Med   Lrg   Xlg
Nella and Androcephalus Bull, Mesopotamia (706 B.C.) Med   Lrg   Xlg	Winged Bulls and Reliefs MP4-Sml   MP4-Med   WMV-HD
Assorted Reliefs MP4-Sml   MP4-Med   WMV-HD	Relief of Man Carrying Goat Med   Lrg   Xlg
9000 Year Old Statue, Aïn Ghazal Med   Lrg   Xlg	Iron Age Figurines, Iran (14th-6th C. B.C.) Med   Lrg   Xlg

We then found ourselves surrounded by artifacts from ancient Egypt.

Sarcophagus Med   Lrg   Xlg	Papyrus Document Med   Lrg   Xlg
Tomb Figurines Med   Lrg   Xlg	Tomb Statue Med   Lrg   Xlg
Lion God Statues Med   Lrg   Xlg	Crypt of the Sphinx Med   Lrg   Xlg

We finished up our antiquity adventures by viewing Roman and Greek statuary, including the famous Venus de Milo and Winged Victory of Samothrace.

Athena Parthenos, Roman Copy (1st-2nd C. A.D.) Med   Lrg   Xlg	Apollo of Mantua, Ares Borghese, Venus of Arles MP4-Sml   MP4-Med   WMV-HD
Venus of Arles, Roman Copy (1st C. A.D.) Med   Lrg   Xlg	Venus de Milo, Greek (2nd C. B.C.) Med   Lrg   Xlg
Bob and Venus de Milo Med   Lrg	Venus de Milo MP4-Sml   MP4-Med   WMV-HD
Winged Victory of Samothrace, Greek (ca. 190 B.C.) Med   Lrg   Xlg	Nella and Winged Victory of Samothrace Med   Lrg   Xlg

Of course there was lots more than you see here - you can view much of it at The Louvre website. But we'd had enough for the moment, so we broke for lunch. Click onward to find out what happened next.