The Louvre Museum opened on 10 August 1793 with an exhibition of 537 paintings, the majority of the works being royal and confiscated church property. Because of structural problems with the building, the museum was closed in 1796 until 1801. The collection was increased under Napoleon and the museum renamed the Musée Napoléon. After the defeat of Napoleon at Waterloo, many works seized by his armies were returned to their original owners. The collection was further increased during the reigns of Louis XVIII and Charles X, and during the Second French Empire the museum gained 20,000 pieces. Holdings have grown steadily through donations and gifts since the Third Republic.
One of the city's best-known sites is the Louvre Museum.
The Louvre, in its successive architectural metamorphoses,
has dominated central Paris since the late 12th century.
When it was built, it stood on the city's western edge,
though the original structure was gradually engulfed as the city grew.
The dark fortress of the early days was transformed
into the Renaissance dwelling of François I,
and later, the sumptuous palace of the Sun King, Louis XIV.
Here we explore the history of this extraordinary edifice,
and of the museum that has been its occupant since 1793.
Constructed of cut stone,
the Louvre is a masterpiece of the French Renaissance.
In the 16th century, architect Pierre Lescaut
was one of the first to apply pure classical ideas in France,
and his design for a new wing at the Louvre defined its future development.
Originally a royal palace,
the Louvre became a public museum at the end of the 18th century.
In the 17th century, architect Claude Perrault
collaborated in the final design of the colonnade,
a massive row of paired columns that rises above the unadorned first story,
and dominates the majestic east façade of the Louvre.
The austerity of the east façade,
with its central pediment and end pavilions,
is often associated with Perrault's architectural ideas.
The simple character of the ground floor basement
sets off the paired Corinthian columns,
modeled strictly according to Vitruvius,
against a shadowed void with pavilions at both ends.
The façade, divided into five parts,
is a solution typical of French classicism.
Home to one of the most famous collections of fine art in the world,
including the priceless Greek statue known as the Venus de Milo
and the portrait of the Mona Lisa by Leonardo da Vinci,
the Louvre Museum is the most important of France's national museums and art galleries.
The Louvre's collection covers Western art from the medieval period to 1848,
formative works from the civilizations of the ancient world,
as well as works of Islamic art.
The collection is grouped into eight departments,
each shaped and defined by the activities of the curators, collectors, and donors.
Visitors to the Louvre now number 9 million every year,
making it the most popular art museum in the world.
The Louvre takes up the south side of the Rue de Rivoli
and on the other side runs an arcade more than 1.6 kilometers long.
The Rue de Rivoli marked a transitional compromise
between an urbanism composed of prestigious monuments
and aristocratic squares and the forms of a modern town.
The Passage Richelieu links the Cour Napoléon with the Rue de Rivoli.
The street is a mix of traditionalism with its monuments and squares
and modernism with its buildings of contemporary design.
The houses lined in the street all have identical facades,
leaving the impression of an endless row of houses.
