Where is the Louvre? Louvre Museum in Paris: famous paintings and exhibition features

- (Louvre), in Paris, originally a royal palace; erected on the site of an old castle in the 16th and 19th centuries. (architects P. Lesko, C. Perrault and others), since 1791 an art museum; the richest collection of ancient Egyptian, ancient, Western European... ... encyclopedic Dictionary

- (French Louvre). The old royal palace in Paris, built in 1204, is now occupied by artistic and various other rarities. Dictionary of foreign words included in the Russian language. Chudinov A.N., 1910. Louvre ancient royal palace... ... Dictionary of foreign words of the Russian language

In Paris, originally a royal palace; erected on the site of the castle in the 16th - 19th centuries. (architects P. Lesko, C. Perrault and others), since 1791 an art museum; the richest collection of ancient Egyptian, ancient, Western European art... Modern encyclopedia

- (Louvre) in Paris, an architectural monument and museum, one of the architectural dominants of the historical center of the city. Originally a royal palace on the site of a castle from the early 3rd to 4th centuries. (1546 XIX century, architects P. Lesko, L. Levo, C. Perrault and others;... ... Art encyclopedia

Noun, number of synonyms: 1 museum (22) ASIS Dictionary of Synonyms. V.N. Trishin. 2013… Synonym dictionary

The most remarkable of Parisian public buildings, both for its enormity and architecture, and for the precious collections it contains. The name of this building comes from the Wolf Forest (Luparia, Louverie) that was once located here, in... ... Encyclopedia of Brockhaus and Efron

Louvre- employee time sheet... Dictionary of abbreviations and abbreviations

- (Louvre) architectural monument in Paris; originally a royal palace, then an art museum, one of the world's greatest art repositories. It was built on the site of a castle in the early 13th and 14th centuries. In 1546 74 P. Lesko erected a palace in the form of... ... Great Soviet Encyclopedia

- (Louvre) former French palace. kings, since 1793 arts. museum, one of the greatest arts. repositories of the world. Name L. probably comes from Late Lat. lupara gathering places for wolf hunters. Built on the site of a building erected in the 13th century. queens... ... Soviet historical encyclopedia

Books

• Louvre, Rezko I. (ed), Richly illustrated gift edition in hardcover with three-sided gold edge. One of the greatest museums in the world - the Louvre - opens its doors to you, inviting you to look at… Category: Miniature editions
• Louvre, Rezko I. (ed), The Louvre is the architectural and historical pearl of Paris and one of the greatest museums in the world. The richest collection of the Louvre represents a unique universal history of art: from the Ancient East to... Category:

If you enter the Louvre through the main entrance (Pyramid of the Louvre), you will have to stand in line for quite a long time, however, you can take advantage of this. So, while waiting, you can enjoy a stunning view of Napoleon's courtyard with its fountains and pyramids. In addition, you will have time to examine the Louvre itself, which is amazing in size, from the outside.

Once you finally get inside the museum, at the information desk you can pick up a map of the Louvre, which shows the most famous works of art. It’s better, of course, to prepare in advance and print out a guide from the museum’s website (http://www.louvre.fr/). On the website in the section Visitor Trails You can choose from 27 suggested routes of varying durations. The most popular route, of course, is Masterpieces, which you will complete in about an hour and a half.

Attempts to embrace the immensity and cover the entire exhibition of the Louvre invariably end in failure, because the collection of this museum is simply immense. Therefore, you need to think in advance about what kind of works of art you want to see. The museum is divided into three wings (Richelieu, Denon and Sully), which include the following departments:

• Egyptian antiquities;
• Assyrian and Phoenician antiquities (containing the richest collection of them after the collection of the British Museum in London);
• Etruscan and Greek vases (Campana collection) and funerary urns;
• antique marbles (including the famous statues of Venus de Milo, Diana of Versailles, Borghese gladiator, etc.);
• sculptures average centuries and the Renaissance (works by Goujon, “Diana of Fontaineble” by B. Cellini, “Two Slaves” by Michelangelo, etc.);
• the latest sculpture (works by Puget, Coisevo, Coustou, Houdon, Chaudet, Rude, etc.);
• painting (one of the best art galleries in the whole world, containing over 2000 exemplary works of various schools of painting);
• original drawings by famous artists;
• gems, enamels and jewelry placed in the so-called. "Apollo Gallery", remarkable for its size, luxurious decoration, lampshades and picturesque wall panels;
• antique bronzes;
• works of applied art average. centuries and the Renaissance;
• ethnographical museum;
• nautical;
• engraved copper boards (calcography) with the sale of printed impressions from them.

The most popular part of the museum is the Denon wing. This is where most tourists flock, dreaming of catching a glimpse of the legendary “La Gioconda” by Leonardo da Vinci. In fact, you can only look at the Mona Lisa out of the corner of your eye: the hall in which the most famous painting in the world is located is packed to capacity at almost any time of the day. A huge crowd of art connoisseurs line up in front of Leonardo’s masterpiece, holding a camera in their raised hands. And the Mona Lisa smiles mockingly at visitors from behind armored glass...

In addition, the Denon wing also houses a huge gallery of Italian paintings, famous works by French artists of the 19th century and a collection of Italian and classical sculpture.

Many will also be interested in the Richelieu wing, on the third floor of which paintings from Western and Northern Europe are exhibited. Here you can see paintings by Durer and Vermeer. Hans Holbein the Younger and many other masters of painting. On the floor below there is a stunning collection of applied art, including the famous Napoleon Room, which amazes with the luxury of its decoration.

The Sully Wing will primarily attract those interested in the history of the Louvre.

Masterpieces of the Louvre

• The calling card of the Louvre is the famous Gioconda or, as it is also called, . It is to this picture that all the signs lead, which the streams of tourists obediently follow. The Mona Lisa is covered with thick armored glass, and next to it there are always two guards and crowds of fans. Once upon a time, Mona Lisa came to Moscow, but then the museum’s management decided not to take this mysterious beauty anywhere else. So you can admire La Gioconda exclusively in the Louvre. Mona Lisa is in the Denon wing in hall 7.

• Venus de Milo (Aphrodite) is no less famous than the previous beauty. The author of Venus is considered to be the sculptor Agesander of Antioch. This girl has a difficult fate. In 1820, because of her, a heated dispute ensued between the Turks and the French, during which the statue of the goddess was thrown to the ground and the beautiful sculpture was broken. The French collected the fragments in a hurry and... lost the hands of Venus! So the goddess of love and beauty became a victim of the battle for beauty. By the way, Venus's hands were never found, so this story may not be over yet. You can admire the armless beauty in the 16th hall of Greek, Etruscan and Roman treasures in the Sully wing.
• Another symbol of the Louvre is Nike of Samothrace, goddess of victory. Unlike the Venus de Milo, this beauty managed to lose not only her arms, but also her head. Archaeologists have discovered many fragments of the statue: for example, in 1950, a brush of the goddess was found in Samothrace, which is now in a glass case immediately behind the pedestal of Nike herself. Alas, scientists were never able to find the head of the goddess. Nike of Samothrace is located in the Denon wing on the stairs in front of the entrance to the gallery of Italian paintings.
• Another statue that is the pearl of the Louvre collection is Prisoner, or dying slave(work by Michelangelo). The Renaissance master is best known for his statue of David, but this sculpture deserves just as much attention. Denon Wing, first floor, hall No. 4.
• Statue of seated Ramses II- another masterpiece that the Louvre can be proud of. This ancient Egyptian sculpture is located on ground floor in the Sully wing, in the 12th room of Egyptian antiquities.

• The Louvre also has a fine collection of Mesopotamian monuments, the heart of which is code of laws of Hamurappi, written on a basalt stele. Hamurappi's laws can be seen in Hall 3 of the first floor of the Richelieu wing.
• IN 75 room of French painting on the first floor of the Denon wing You can see paintings by the famous French artist Jacques Louis David, which includes, perhaps, his most famous painting - "Dedication of Emperor Napoleon I".
• For lovers of Dutch painting, we recommend visiting Room 38 of the third floor of the Richelieu Gallery. Among other things, there is the famous "The Lacemaker" brushes by Jan Vermeer.
• Through ground floor of the Sully wing You will be taken to fortifications of the old Louvre. Here you will see the walls of the medieval Louvre, which were found by archaeologists.
• Apartments of Napoleon III, the last emperor of France, cannot help but amaze you with the luxury of their interior decoration. If you like the Empire style, be sure to visit second floor of the Richelieu wing: There is so much gold and crystal here that even your mouth is light!

Story

The Louvre was built at the end of the 12th century by King Philip Augustus. At that time, the Louvre was only a defensive fortress, but this structure was subject to changes century after century. Almost every king of France considered it necessary to introduce something new into the appearance of the Louvre. Thus, in the middle of the 16th century, Francis I, who decided to make the Louvre his Parisian residence, ordered his court architect to build a palace in the Renaissance style, and at the end of the 16th century, King Henry IV ordered the remains of the medieval fortress to be removed, the courtyard expanded and the Tuileries and Louvre palaces connected.

In 1682, the royal court moved to Versailles and the Louvre fell into disrepair until the French Revolution. In 1750, they even began to talk about the possible demolition of the palace.

New life was breathed into the Louvre by Napoleon, who resumed work on the construction of the Louvre. In addition, Napoleon made a huge contribution to the expansion of the museum’s collection, demanding from each nation he defeated a unique tribute in the form of works of art. Now the museum's catalog contains about 380 thousand exhibits.

For tourists

The Louvre is located in the heart of Paris, on the right bank of the Seine. You've probably already heard about the huge queues that await you at the entrance to the museum, but you shouldn't be afraid of them. Firstly, it is better to use not the main entrance through the Pyramid, near which an incredible number of people invariably crowd, but the passage through the Carrousel du Louvre shopping center. You can get there directly through the metro station Palais-Royal – Musée du Louvre.

To avoid a long queue at the entrance, you will either have to arrive about half an hour before the museum opens, or in the afternoon, when the flow of tourists has subsided a little. The museum is open from 9:00 to 18:00 on Monday, Thursday, Saturday and Sunday and from 9:00 to 21:45 on Wednesdays and Fridays. Tuesday – day off.

Entrance ticket to the Louvre costs 12 euros. If you want to visit not only the permanent exhibition, but also exhibitions and the Napoleon Hall, then a ticket will cost you 13 euros.

The Louvre is a unique museum complex, one of the largest in the world. The exhibitions occupy 58,470 square meters, and the total area of ​​the museum is 160,106 m². The history of the Louvre is eventful, dating back approximately 700 years. Initially it was a fortress, which was later converted into a royal palace.

The Louvre was founded in the 12th century by Philip Augustus (King of France). Since its founding, the Louvre has undergone numerous renovations and reconstructions. All the French kings, who did not even live permanently in the Louvre, tried to introduce something new into the appearance of the building.

For King Philip Augustus, the Louvre was a fortress, the main task of which was to protect the western approaches to Paris, so the Louvre was a powerful structure with a central tower.

During the reign of Charles V, the fortress was turned into a royal residence. It was this king who initiated the reconstruction of the fortress into a building that would be suitable for the king’s stay. The idea was implemented by the architect Raymond de Temple, who also took care of the reliable protection of the king, surrounding the building with powerful fortress walls.

Around the end of the 18th century, all work on the construction of the Louvre was successfully completed.

The museum received its first visitors in November 1793. At first, the main source of replenishment of the Louvre's funds were the royal collections collected by Francis I and Louis XIV. At the time of the museum’s founding, the collection already included 2,500 paintings.

Today, the Louvre houses 350,000 exhibits, some of which are kept in storage.

Schedule:
Monday - 9:00-17:30
Tuesday - Closed
Wednesday - 9:00-21:30
Thursday - 9:00-17:30
Friday - 9:00-21:30
Saturday - 9:00-17:30
Sunday - 9:00-17:30

Official website of the museum: louvre.fr

Most Parisians consider the Louvre to be their top attraction. But the glass pyramid, designed by Chinese-American architect Yeo Ming Peo, according to townspeople, does not really fit in with the Renaissance-style palace. This structure has the same parameters as the Egyptian pyramid of Cheops. Creates a feeling of space and light, and also acts as the main entrance to the museum.

Story

Historically, the architecture of the Louvre has always combined many styles. This was started by King Philip Augustus, who built a defensive fortress on the western border side of Paris in the 12th century. For one thing, it served as a repository for the royal archives and treasury.

Further, under King Charles the Fifth, it was transformed into royal apartments. Architects of the Renaissance period rebuilt the palace ensemble, trying to fulfill a virtually impossible goal - to satisfy the tastes of two kings: Francis the First and Henry the Fourth, whose statue now stands on the New Bridge. The main part of the fortress wall was destroyed and a huge gallery was built, which connected the Louvre with the Tuileries Palace, which still existed at that time.

At the beginning of the 17th century, Henry the Fourth, who had great sympathy for art, invited artists to live in the palace. He promised them spacious halls for workshops, homes and the rank of palace painters.

Louis XIV practically put an end to the prestige of the Louvre as the residence of kings. He moved to Versailles, along with the entire court, and artists, sculptors and architects settled in the Louvre. Among them were Jean-Honoré Fragonard, Jean-Baptiste-Simeon Chardin, Guillaume Coustou. That's when the Louvre fell into such disrepair that plans began to be made for its demolition.

At the end of the French Revolution, the Louvre became known as the Central Museum of Art. At the same time, Napoleon the Third will bring into reality what Henry the Fourth dreamed of - the Richelieu wing was added to the Louvre. It became a mirror image of the Haut-Bor-de-l'Eau gallery. But the Louvre did not become symmetrical for long - during the Paris Commune, the Tuileries Palace burned down, and along with it a large part of the Louvre.

Collection

Today, the Louvre has more than 350 thousand works of art, and approximately 1,600 employees who organize the functioning of the museum. The collection is located in three wings of the building: the Richelieu wing is located along the Rue de Rivoli; The Denon wing runs parallel to the Seine and a square courtyard surrounds the Sully wing.

Ancient East and Islam. The halls display objects of ancient art from the regions from the Persian Gulf to the Bosporus, in particular Mesopotamia, the countries of the Levant and Persia.

The Louvre's collection includes more than 55,000 pieces of ancient Egyptian art. The exhibition demonstrates the results of the crafts of the ancient Egyptians - stuffed animals, papyri, sculptures, talismans, paintings and mummies.

Art of Ancient Greece, Etruscans and Ancient Rome. These are the fruits of creative searches in recreating a person and a special vision of beauty. Actually, it is these halls that present the main sculptural treasures of the Louvre - those that museum visitors usually want to see first. These are statues of Apollo and the Venus de Milo, dating back to the hundredth year BC, as well as the statue of the Nike of Samothrace, which was found in the form of 300 fragments a thousand years after its creation.

Arts and crafts are displayed on the second floor. You will see all kinds of objects: the throne of Napoleon the First and unique tapestries, miniatures, porcelain and jewelry, fine bronze and even royal crowns.

The ground and first floors of the Richelieu wing and the Denon wing are occupied by an extensive collection of works of French sculpture, as well as a small number of exhibits from Italy, Holland, Germany, and Spain. Among them are two works by the great Michelangelo, which are called “The Slave”.

The Louvre houses one of the world's most extensive collections of paintings, and naturally, the French school is represented in the museum most comprehensively.

Gioconda

The main work that tourists primarily want to see is the Mona Lisa (La Gioconda) by Leonardo da Vinci. This painting is located in the Denon wing, in a separate small room - the Salle des Etas, which can only be accessed from the Grand Gallery.

This room was built quite recently, specifically to make it convenient for tourists to view the most recognizable painting in the world without bumping into each other, although it is kept behind two layers of glass.

The painting was painted over 500 years ago and was da Vinci's favorite work. There is an opinion that Leonardo painted a self-portrait in women's clothing, and it combines two principles - yin and yang. If you look into Mona Lisa's eyes, the chin appears in the distant zone of vision, which gives the impression of an elusive smile. And if you look at the lips, the smile disappears and this is where its mystery lies.

Despite its greatness, La Gioconda itself is even smaller in size than its reproductions in the souvenir shops of the Louvre.

We are going to the Louvre (le Louvre). Once a fortress, then a palace, and now a museum, the Louvre is one of the most famous in the world, the third largest (160 thousand square meters) and the most visited collection of works of art. More than 9 million people come here every year. The Louvre houses over 300 thousand exhibits, but we can only see 35 thousand of them. The reason is that there is not enough exhibition space for all these riches, given all the gigantic size of the museum, and that many cultural treasures require special storage conditions: they cannot be shown to the public for a long time, they may not withstand increased attention, and then no amount of restoration will help.

The museum's overflowing storerooms prompted its staff to open branches of the Louvre in the town of Lens in northern France and in the capital of the United Arab Emirates.

Story. Palace of Arts on the Wolf Place

The end of the 12th century was a turbulent time for Europe, including Paris. Viking raiders especially harassed the French. They sailed on their longships across the seas, looked over the waves and into the mouths of rivers, plundered, and then burned those cities and villages that were carelessly located on the shores. Paris therefore waited with horror and trepidation that one day Scandinavian robbers would get to it again.

Philip II Auguste, also known as Philip the Crooked, became the first monarch of the country to call himself, contrary to custom, not the King of the Franks, but the King of France. In 1190, so that the Varangians, as well as his English relatives from the Plantagenet dynasty who had coveted the French throne, would not take the Parisians and other subjects by surprise, he completed (of course, not himself) the donjon - the Great Tower of the Louvre - on the right bank of the Seine. And opposite, on the left bank, the Nelskaya Tower appeared. Both of them closed the fortress wall that surrounded the capital. Later, a castle-fortress was built next to the Louvre Tower. From it, according to the king’s plan, it was necessary to conduct constant surveillance of the section of the Seine from Paris to the confluence of the river into the English Channel, from where the ushkuyniki could arrive on longships. And Philip himself, having given orders, in good company - with Richard the Lionheart and Frederick I Barbarossa - left for the Crusade.

Years passed. The Vikings changed, gave up robberies, and gradually became worthy members of society, some even monarchs. And a fortress on the banks of the Seine, in an area called Lupara, either because there were wolves there (in Latin - lupus, in French - le loup), or leading its etymology from the Frankish word “leovar” (fortification), a century later with a quarter became the residence of King Charles V. The state treasury and the personal library of the autocrat were also kept here, numbering as many as 973 volumes - a huge collection of works at that time.

In 1528, the Great Tower of the Louvre was destroyed by order of King Francis. I (François I ) – as dilapidated and obsolete (its perfectly preserved foundation can now be seen in the museum, look at the photo below). And in its place, a couple of decades later, they began to build a royal residence. More than three centuries have passed, more than a dozen monarchs have changed, until under Emperor Napoleon III in 1852, architects and builders did not put an end to the creation of the Louvre, begun by Francis - a brave man, warrior, patron of the muses, who invited Italian masters to the country, led by Leonardo da Vinci, who gave a magical impetus to the French Renaissance.

All these years, kings and emperors from their campaigns brought sculptures and antiquities from all over the world to the Louvre, and bought works from artists. Of course, at first the collection was available only to the aristocracy, but after the Great French Revolution, in 1793, the doors of the Louvre opened to representatives of all classes.

By 1989, on the 200th anniversary of the revolution, French President François Mitterrand ordered the construction of four glass pyramids and fountains in the courtyard of the Louvre, designed by Chinese-American architect Yo Ming Pei. Another way to spell his name is Bei Yuming (by the way, he will turn 100 years old in April 2017). Not everyone liked this idea; many considered the appearance of high-tech against the backdrop of buildings in the classicist style to be blasphemy. But, as in the case of the Eiffel Tower, the Louvre pyramids very soon became familiar to Parisians. And not only for Parisians. Seeing this glass miracle for the first time, I realized how correct and appropriate the decision was to build the pyramids here: their clear lines perfectly set off the old walls of the palace.

How to get there

The Louvre is located nearby. For example, I begin every new date with Paris to the dull and deep voices of the bells of Notre Dame, and I advise you to do so. And to get from here to the Louvre, you and I just need to cross from the Ile de la Cité to the right, northern bank of the Seine along one of three bridges (there are nine of them on the island): Pont Notre-Dame, Pont de Change (pont au Change), or even better along the New Bridge (pont Neuf).

The new bridge, contrary to its name, is the oldest in Paris - it was opened back in 1606 under King Henry IV. Among the French it even became a proverb. They are talking about something long ago and well known: this story is as new as the New Bridge. The bridge is interesting in that it crosses both branches of the Seine and the “nose” of the island of Cité, which is similar in outline to a ship, connecting four banks at once.

We crossed to the right bank and we see in front of us not just anything, but “Samaritain”. This, along with Galeries Lafayette and Printant, is one of the three most famous and oldest large stores in Paris, to which Emile Zola dedicated his novel “Ladies' Happiness”. But we’ll stop by for shopping later, because now we’re going to the Louvre.

And it is already very close - from the New Bridge to the left, then a few steps along the Louvre embankment, turning into the François Mitterrand embankment, and now in front of us is the Square Courtyard (le Cour Carée) of the museum. Moving further along the embankment, you can enter the Louvre courtyard through the Lion Gate, or you can go around the palace on the right and get here from the Rue de Rivoli - the most luxurious and expensive street not only in Paris, but, perhaps, in Europe - through the Richelieu passage or through the Carrousel gallery .

If you get to the Louvre by metro, then you should go to the Palais Royal - Musée du Louvre station, from which you can go directly to the shopping center under the museum building, and from there - under the shadow of a large pyramid, which is the entrance to the museum. Another option is to get to the Louvre Rivoli station. If you don’t want to go underground, choose one of the bus routes: 21, 24, 27, 39, 48, 68, 69, 72, 81, 95. All of these buses stop near the main entrance to the museum.

Visiting days and prices

The Louvre Museum is open daily, except Tuesday, from 9.00 to 18.00, on Wednesday and Friday until 21.45. You will be asked to vacate the premises 15 minutes before closing. On holidays - January 1, May 1 and December 25 - the museum is closed.

From October to March, access to the Louvre's permanent collections is free on the first Sunday of the month, as is the case on July 14, Bastille Day. On Wednesday and Friday evenings, young people under 26 will also not be asked for money, just show an ID (I think a foreign passport will do) that contains your date of birth.

A ticket to the Louvre costs 15 euros, but if you want to walk around the museum with a Russian-speaking guide, then be prepared to part with 45 euros. True, the guide only works with a group, so either come with friends, or wait until the required number of art lovers from Russia and the CIS countries gather. But, it seems to me, anyone who is at least a little familiar with the history of art will not need a guide in the Louvre - its exhibits are so famous.

What can you see

Everyone comes to the Louvre for something different: I, say, am interested in cuneiform tablets from Mesopotamia, which are 6 thousand years old (pictured below), others can’t wait to look at Egyptian sarcophagi, papyri, Fayum portraits, a third is attracted by the art of Ancient Greece and Rome. There are also exhibitions of artifacts from Persia and the Levant, a collection of paintings by European artists - from the 13th century and the Renaissance to the mid-19th century (paintings by later painters are presented in the Orsay Museum. It is located on the embankment of the same name on the other side of the Seine, directly opposite the Louvre).

What to see

But you can’t help but visit the Louvre and see the three grand dames of world culture.

Firstly, this is, of course, the Venus de Milo. The beautiful white marble statue (scientists date it to 130–100 BC) was still in use when the French sailor Olivier Voutier and local resident Yorgos Kentrotas dug it up in 1820 on the Greek island of Milos. But then a squabble began between the French, who sought permission to take the find home, and the Turks, whose possessions the island was then... In a word, what was left to world culture was what was left.

Secondly, you will not pass by Nike (sometimes they say Nika) of Samothrace. This goddess of victory, and a sea goddess, because she stands on a pedestal in the shape of the bow of a marble ship, is beautiful even without a head. Where did the head of the 2nd century BC sculpture discovered in 1863 on the island of Samothraki (Samothraki) in the north-east of the Aegean Sea go – history is silent this time. Historians are still arguing in honor of whose victory and in what naval battle the masterpiece was created. Let's not disturb them, let's go further along the corridors of the Louvre...

...And we will come to the painting department, the collection of which began with a collection of paintings by the same patron of the arts, Francis I, and was replenished through the efforts of Louis XIV, whom we remember from his aphorisms “the state is me” and “precision is the politeness of kings.” Francis bought all available works by Leonardo da Vinci after the death of the master, including La Gioconda, and Louis gathered at his court such painters as, for example, Charles Lebrun and Pierre Mignard, whose canvases we now see in the Louvre next to paintings by Nicolas Poussin and Claude Lorrain, the great artists of the 19th century Eugene Delacroix with his “Freedom Leading the People to the Barricades” and Theodore Géricault with his terrifying “The Raft of the Medusa”.

When you and I pass all these painters who have dipped their brushes into eternity, we will meet the most mysterious woman of all time. Yes, you guessed it - with Gioconda. No reproductions, even the highest quality ones, can convey the charm of the Mona Lisa. Before my first date with her, I wondered what people saw in this plump lady. And only when I saw her with my own eyes, I realized: she’s simply charming! See for yourself.

Leonardo's masterpiece, in a bulletproof display case with constant temperature and humidity control, hangs on a separate wall. There is not a single picture on the wall anymore. A dense crowd, seemingly motionless, stands in front of the most famous painting in the history of mankind. Only eyes. Only flashes and the crackle of cameras. A short exhale, and another one who met the gaze of Mona Lisa carefully gets out of the crowd.

Some people forget about everything in the excitement of the meeting. For such people, a sign was placed next to the La Gioconda: “Caution! Beware of pickpockets! In a word, keep your pockets in check and don’t lose your head in sight of the beautiful lady. You are not Nike of Samothrace, are you?

Overflowing with beauty, we will leave the museum, walk to the triumphal arch on the small Place Carrousel, which closes the open courtyard of the Louvre to the west, and stand in front of it. The opening of the arch will reveal the stunning main historical axis of Paris: from the Louvre to the Tuileries Garden, and then the Place de la Concorde, the Champs Elysees and the Arc de Triomphe on the Place des Stars, which since 1970 has been named after Charles de Gaulle, and there, behind the Seine, is the ultra-modern Grand Arch in the La Défense business district.

You and I may not get that far, but need to show up.

The French National Museum Louvre is one of the largest and most famous art museums in the world. It is located in the center of Paris on the right bank of the Seine. About 35 thousand exhibits are exhibited on an area of ​​60.6 thousand square meters.

The museum's collections occupy a large complex of buildings, the construction of which took place over eight centuries. The beginning was made by King Philip II Augustus (reigned 1180-1223), on whose orders a fortress was built to protect the approaches to the island of Cité, where the center of Paris was then located. The name Louvre was assigned to the citadel, perhaps because many wolves have long been found in this area, and it was called the “wolf place” - Louvenia.

The castle, measuring 78 by 72 meters, was built in 1190. The fortress was surrounded by a moat. There were round towers in the corners and in the center, the tallest of them, the central tower, was 30 meters high and 15 meters in diameter.

King Charles V (r. 1364-1380) made the Louvre his residence, and the castle was expanded and remodeled.

In 1541, under Francis I, this building was dismantled, and in its place, in 1546-1574, one of the best buildings of the era was created according to the design of the famous French Renaissance architect Pierre Lescaut. In 1578, in connection with the construction of the Tuileries Palace undertaken by Catherine de Medici, construction began on a gallery connecting the Louvre with the new palace. In 1595, work began on the addition of this originally one-story gallery. Since 1624, according to the project of the architect Jacques Lemercier, a composition of a closed rectangle of the “Old Louvre” has been created, enclosing the square of the courtyard. Lemercier's work was continued by Louis Leveau and Claude Perrault, who built the colonnade of the eastern façade, part of the southern façade.

Since 1674, Louis XIV decided to make Versailles his residence. Work at the Louvre was suspended. Since 1672, the royal palace has housed the Royal Academy of Painting and Sculpture and the Royal Academy of Architecture, created in 1671. Since that time, a collection of paintings has been formed in the southern gallery. The "first painter of the king" Charles Lebrun was appointed keeper of the art gallery. Since 1737, large art exhibitions began to be held in one of the halls of the Louvre - the Square Salon.

With the outbreak of the French Revolution in 1789, the Louvre was used for national meetings.

On August 10, 1793, an exhibition of paintings confiscated by the revolutionaries from the aristocracy opened in the Grand Gallery, and the Louvre became a public museum.

During the years of the First Empire, architects Charles Percier and Pierre Fontaine built a second floor in the southern and northern wings of the Square Courtyard, extended the northern gallery, closing the Place de la Carrousel, and erected a triumphal arch in its center in honor of the military victories of Emperor Napoleon.

Under Napoleon Bonaparte, the Louvre's art collections were especially intensively replenished, most of them were captured during the wars, and the emperor bought some works of art. According to Bonaparte, the "Museum of Napoleon" was to surpass all art collections in the world. As a result of Bonaparte's Egyptian campaign (1798-1799), the museum's antiquities department expanded significantly.

After the fall of Napoleon, many stolen works of art had to be returned. After the requisitions of 1815, the Louvre was somewhat empty, but its collection was significantly replenished in 1817 due to the transfer of exhibits from the liquidated Museum of French Monuments to its halls.

In 1939, with the outbreak of World War II, the museum's collections were evacuated. The Louvre reopened in September 1940.

In 1981, French President François Mitterrand signed the “Grand Louvre” project, according to which all the premises of the former palace were given to the museum. For this purpose, the Ministry of Finance, located in the Richelieu wing, moved to new premises. The Richelieu building, facing the Rue de Rivoli, was completely rebuilt according to a new design, and two courtyards, covered with glass domes, housed sculptures from the royal parks of Versailles and Marly.

In December 1986, on the other side of the Seine, the D'Orsay Museum was opened in a converted former train station building built in 1900. Works created by artists from 1848 to 1914 were transferred here from the Louvre.

In 1989, Chinese-American architect Yo Ming Pei, with the participation of French masters Michel Macari and Jean Michel Wilmot, built a glass pyramid in the center of Napoleon's courtyard, contrasting with the historical structure. A new main entrance to the museum was opened under the pyramid, where recreation, shops, a lecture hall, and office premises were located.

The Louvre presents works of Western European art from the Middle Ages to 1848, ancient civilizations. The collections are divided into several departments: painting, graphics, sculpture, Egyptian antiquities, Greek, Etruscan and Roman antiquities, oriental antiquities,

The Louvre exhibition is huge. Here you can see works of Ancient Egypt and Mesopotamia: a statue of the scribe Kaya, winged bulls from Khorsabad and Assyrian reliefs. Among the masterpieces of ancient sculpture are the archaic statue of Hera of Samos, a fragment of the Parthenon frieze, statues of the Borghese fighter, the Venus of Milo and the Nike of Samothrace. The sculpture section contains figures of Michelangelo's "Slaves", works from the French Middle Ages and "Nymph of Fontainebleau" by Benvenuto Cellini. The exhibition of paintings includes paintings by Jean Clouet, Jean Antoine Watteau, Jacques Louis David, Jean Auguste Dominique Ingres, Eugene Delacroix and others. The Italian school is represented by paintings by Paolo Uccello, Andrea Mantegna, Leonardo da Vinci. The most valuable part of the collection of Italian paintings in the Louvre are five paintings by Leonardo da Vinci, including the famous La Gioconda. This is the world's largest collection of paintings by the great artist. On the second floor of the Richelieu building, the Medici Gallery is recreated, where 24 paintings by Peter Paul Rubens are displayed.

Special sections display works of decorative and applied art: tapestries, enamels, furniture, products made of gold and ivory, bronze, earthenware and porcelain.

In September 2012, the Louvre opened a department dedicated to Islamic art in new galleries covering an area of ​​five thousand square meters. It houses about three thousand exhibits from the Islamic world from Spain to India from the 8th to the 19th centuries.

On December 4, 2012, as part of the “Grand Louvre” project, the first branch of the Louvre, the Louvre Lens, was opened, located in the northern town of France on an area of ​​about 20 hectares. The main museum complex includes five interconnected buildings, including a gallery for temporary exhibitions with an area of ​​1.7 thousand square meters and a theater with 300 seats. The buildings, made of glass, aluminum and concrete, were designed by Japanese architectural bureau Sanaa. The first special exhibition dedicated to the Renaissance included 250 works, including a painting by Leonardo da Vinci. The museum in Lens hosts a semi-permanent exhibition, "Gallery of Time", which features more than 200 works selected from every section of the Louvre's collections, ranging from ancient cuneiform examples to Delacroix.

In 2015, the Louvre in the UAE is “Louvre Abu Dhabi”, located on the island of As Saadiyat in the suburbs of the Emirate capital. In 2013, the museum showed the public exhibits that had already been acquired by the Abu Dhabi government for future exhibition.

The material was prepared based on information from open sources