Located in Paris, Louvre is a French palace and the national art museum of France. Once a residence of the kings of France, the palace features traditional French architecture since the Renaissance, and it houses a magnificent collection of ancient and Western art.
The first Louvre was a fortress built at the beginning of the 13th century by Philip II Augustus to defend the Seine below Paris against the Normans and English. In the late 1980s, there was extensive renovation and expansion in the Louvre. In November 1993, to mark its 200th anniversary, the museum unveiled the Richelieu wing in the quarters that had been vacated, grudgingly, by the Ministry of Finance in 1989.
Louvre museum displays Oriental (ancient Mesopotamian) antiquities; Egyptian antiquities; Greek and Roman antiquities; sculpture from the Middle Ages to modern times; furniture and objects d’art; and paintings representing all the European schools. A section of the museum is devoted to Islamic art.
Louvre takes pride in its ancient art works with the likes of a statuette of the Sumerian ruler Gudea, a stele bearing Hammurabi’s code, an Egyptian painted stone statue of a scribe sitting cross-legged, the Venus de Milo, and the Victory of Samothrace. Also among the famous displays of the museum are two marble Slaves by Michelangelo, the treasure of the abbey of St. Denis, and the French crown diamonds. Important paintings include the Pietà of Avignon, Leonardo da Vinci’s Mona Lisa, Veronese’s immense Wedding at Cana and Watteau’s Embarkation for Cythera.
Louvre is located at Rue de Rivoli, 75001 Paris. It is accessible through métro: Palais Royal – Musée du Louvre. The admission charges are 7.50€ for adults and 5.00€ after 3pm. It is free for the first Sunday of the month and for children 17 and under. The museum is closed on Jan. 1, May 1, Nov. 11 and Dec. 25.