The Louvre was actually a medieval fortress in the 12th century. In 1546 Charles V turned it into a royal residence, which it remained until Louis XIV moved to Versailles. Louis XIV used the Louvre as a giant way of displaying the royal collections. Parts of this display were made public by Louis' grandson, the next king, Louis XV in 1750. Louis XVI made this idea official policy in 1776. Luckily, this was one of the few of Louis XVI's policies that the Revolution continued. They made the Louvre a public museum in August of 1793, a job it has held ever since.
I spent all day here, and there was no ban on photos, much to my shocked delight. I won’t post much more in the way of words, I can’t really do it justice. I will say this, you need to go. You cannot comprehend the size until you do. It is the experience as much as anything, and for only ten euros, it is totally worth it.
Here are a few of the works that caught my eye.
A hippogriff...
The Code of Hammurabi; history/law student remember...
Huge statues from the ancient Assyrian capital of Ninevah...
The Statue from Ain Ghawn. It is 9,000 years old, making it the oldest piece of art in the Louvre...
Cupid and Psyche...
The Venus de Milo...
This wasn't a picture of art, it was just to give you an idea of how crazy people are about one piece in particular...
This one, the Mona Lisa...
I also took pictures throughout the museum to try and give you an idea of the size of the palace and the immensity of its collection...
Napoleon III had his Paris apartments in the Louvre. He lived during the period of Victoria, and it shows…
It is unfortunate really, he was fairly popular for most of his reign, but he really botched it bad by declaring war on Prussia. He led troops to the disaster at Sedan. The Prussians won so overwhelmingly at Sedan that they declared the German Empire, which would cause problems for France in 1914. Here is one last feeble attempt to communicate to you the immensity of this place…
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