The Louvre

The Louvre

A former royal palace turned the largest art museum on earth. Beneath I. M. Pei's glass pyramid lie the Mona Lisa, the Venus de Milo, the Winged Victory of Samothrace and some 35,000 works spanning eight millennia.

Begun in the late 12th century as a fortress under Philippe Auguste, the Louvre became the main residence of the kings of France in the 16th century. Enlarged by successive monarchs — from the Renaissance Cour Carrée to the Grande Galerie along the Seine — it was turned into a public museum by the revolutionary government and opened on 10 August 1793.

Since 1989, visitors descend through the glass Pyramid designed by architect I. M. Pei in the Cour Napoléon, which distributes them to the museum's three wings — Denon, Sully and Richelieu. The collections span eight departments: Egyptian, Near-Eastern and Greek, Etruscan & Roman antiquities, Islamic art, sculpture, decorative arts, paintings, and prints & drawings — from the Code of Hammurabi and the Seated Scribe to the Coronation of Napoleon and Liberty Leading the People.

The most-visited museum in the world welcomes millions of visitors each year. It opens every day except Tuesday, from 9 am to 6 pm, with a late evening on Fridays; timed tickets are strongly recommended, and under-18s enter free (as do EU residents under 26). Nearest métro: Palais-Royal–Musée du Louvre (lines 1 and 7).