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From inside the Pyramid
The Musée du Louvre, the national art museum in Paris, France, contains approximately 500,000 objects – an overwhelming number! And, the building itself is its own work of art.
The Musée du Louvre, the national art museum in Paris, France, is so expansive and so crammed full of incredibly works of art that one can easily be overwhelmed.
I had visited the museum on a brief stay in Paris many years ago – but remembered almost nothing about it. Of course, as most people know, it is home to one of the most celebrated paintings in Western art, the Mona Lisa by Leonardo Da Vinci. And, it houses many magnificent ancient Greek and Roman sculptures collected by French kings over the centuries.
In 2024, 8.7 million people visited the Louvre. I was just one onf them.
I had a couple of short stopovers in Paris as part of a longer trip. I spent my days walking through the historic streets, eating in little cafés, and playing tourist on the Seine (see: On and Around the Seine). I had booked myself a timed-entry to the Louvre (good luck getting in without one!), and although it was a long walk from my boat dock, just below the Eiffel Tower, to the museum on the Right Bank of the river, that allowed me to appreciate some of the other iconic buildings that line the UNESCO-listed banks of the Seine.
The expansive art museum occupies most of the Louvre Palace, originally built in the late 12th to 13th century under Philip II as a defensive fortress. Since then, no fewer than twenty building campaigns have seen it develop and change. It has served a range of functions over the centuries, including as a palace, and later as a display space for the French royal collection. During the French Revolution (1789 – 1799), the National Assembly decreed that the Louvre should be used as a museum to showcase the nation’s masterpieces.
The Louvre we see today has undergone many further changes since then, with visible elements representing various architectural styles, including Gothic, French Renaissance, Louis XIII style, French Baroque, Neoclassical, Neo-Baroque and Second Empire style, and Modernism.
It was this beautiful space – as much as the works of art displayed in it – that commanded my attention.
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Walking along the Seine
After a walk along the Left Bank from the boat pier, the third oldest bridge in Paris, the Pont Royal (1685-1689), comes into view. The first part of the huge château complex we see belongs to the École Du Louvre, a selective institution for higher education established in 1882.
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Lions at the Louvre
The Porte des Lions or Lions Gate wasn’t open for my visit. These green bronze lions are attributed to to the French sculptor Antoine-Louis Barye (1795 – 1875).
Cour Napoléon – Napoleon Courtyard
The new entry to the Louvre was designed as part of a decade-long project initiated by French President François Mitterrand in 1981 to expand and remodel the building and museum. The Louvre Pyramid, a large glass-and-metal entrance way and skylight in the main courtyard, was designed by Chinese-American architect I. M. Pei and completed in 1989.
In the Courtyard
The Cour Napoléon is surrounded on three sides by the 19th-century palace wings.
The Sun King
An equestrian statue of Louis XIV by Italian sculptor and architect Gian Lorenzo Bernini (1598 – 1680) sits on a plinth near the entrance pyramid.
From Inside the Pyramid
Draped Grecian Marble
In the Department of Greek, Etruscan, and Roman Antiquities on the ground floor of the Sully Wing, the cool Grecian marble begs to be touched.
Silenus cradling the infant Dionysus
This tender and beautiful Roman statue of the elderly satyr Silenus cradling baby Dionysus, the god of wine, is a 1st or 2nd CE marble copy of a Hellenistic Greek bronze from 300 BCE.
Alexander the Great 330-30 BCE
Old Centaur Tormented by Cupid 2 CE
Il Caprone – The Billy Goat
I’m a Capricorn born in the year of the goat, so they always grab my attention. This magnificent fellow is part of an exhibition titled “Masterpieces from the Torlonia Collection”. The statue is a hybrid of ancient and modern craftsmanship: the body dates to the Imperial Roman period (late 1st century to early 2nd century CE), while several other parts were restored in the 17th century. The head is attributed to the Italian Renaissance man: Gian Lorenzo Bernini (1598 – 1680).
The Torlonia Collection
The Torlonia Collection is the largest and most important private collection of ancient art in the world. The Torlonia princes in Rome starting collecting antiquities in the 19th century. They acquired major collections from other Italian families and through excavations on their estates. This exhibition, installed in the renovated summer apartments of Anne of Austria, marks the first time these artworks have been on public display since the 1970s.
Statue of Nilus
This 2nd century CE Roman marble is another breathtaking sculpture from the Torlonia Collection. It shows of the god of the Nile River holding wheat and a cornucopia as symbols of the fertility and prosperity that follow the annual floods.
Look Up!
Even the ceilings are extraordinary. This one in the Rotunda of Mars is known as the Creation of Man. Originally painted by Jean-Simon Berthélemy in 1802, this version was repainted or restored by Jean-Simon Berthélemy in 1826. The picture shows Prometheus bringing life to a human figure with fire, as Athena and other Olympian deities watch.
Through the Window
Everywhere, there is light – as windows look out across the courtyard to the other wings.
Venus de Milo
Some things are just breathtakingly luminous in real life. Created some time between 130 and 100 BC, during the Hellenistic period, this is believed to depict the Greek goddess of love and beauty, Aphrodite.
The Winged Victory of Samothrace
This is a marble Hellenistic sculpture showing the Greek goddess of victory, Nike, landing on the prow of a warship. Created around 190 BC, it is considered a masterpiece of ancient Greek art and a symbol of triumph.
La Gioconda – Mona Lisa
I’ve been up close to this 16th-century oil painting by Leonardo da Vinci before. Arguably the most famous portrait in the world, the crush to view this little gem was impossible. I settled for second-hand!
Arched Hallways
People make their way down the Escalier Daru (Daru Staircase) as closing-time looms.
Steps in a Corridor
I was distracted regularly by the beauty of the space itself.
Gift Shop
Naturally, exiting the museum involves running the gauntlet of souvenir shopping. One can hardly complain, though, when the shops in the underground Carrousel du Louvre mall include the legendary Maxim’s de Paris!
Back in the Courtyard
When I find my way outside, the light has fallen over the palace square.
Having enjoyed a feast for the visual senses, it was time to walk back to my hotel.
Naturally, it was not hard to find a charming bistro in which to stop and eat along the way!
Photos: 29September2024
