Venus de Milo
The most celebrated statue of antiquity — a Hellenistic marble Aphrodite discovered on a Greek island just over two centuries ago.
Carved in marble around 130–100 BC, the Venus de Milo depicts Aphrodite (Venus to the Romans), goddess of love and beauty. Standing just over two metres tall, she is widely attributed to the sculptor Alexandros of Antioch.
The statue was unearthed in 1820 by a peasant on the Aegean island of Milos (Melos), from which she takes her name. Acquired by France, she was presented to King Louis XVIII, who gave her to the Louvre in 1821.
Her missing arms — lost before or during her discovery — have only deepened her mystique. The gently spiralling pose and the drapery slipping from her hips make her one of the finest surviving works of late Hellenistic sculpture. She stands in the Sully wing.
- 🏛️TypeMarble sculpture · ~2.04 m
- 🎨Attributed toAlexandros of Antioch
- 📅PeriodHellenistic · c. 130–100 BC
- 🏛️RoomSully wing · ground floor
- 📍LocationMusée du Louvre, 75001 Paris
About the Louvre
The Louvre is the world’s largest and most-visited art museum. Once the fortress and royal palace of the kings of France, it opened as a public museum in 1793 and today holds some 35,000 works spanning antiquity to the mid-19th century — from Egyptian antiquities and Greek marbles to the French Crown Jewels.
Since 1989, visitors enter beneath the glass Pyramid designed by architect I. M. Pei, which opens onto the museum’s three wings — Denon, Sully and Richelieu — arranged around the Cour Napoléon. The Louvre stands in the 1st arrondissement along the Rue de Rivoli, beside the Tuileries Gardens and the Seine.
The museum is open every day except Tuesday, from 9 am to 6 pm (with a late evening on Fridays). Timed tickets are strongly recommended and can be booked on the official site, louvre.fr; under-18s enter free, as do EU residents under 26. Nearest métro: Palais-Royal–Musée du Louvre (lines 1 and 7).
Where to see it — the Louvre and around
The Louvre (pulsing marker) at the centre. Toggle the filters to explore the heritage, gardens, restaurants and activities of the 1st arrondissement — and the hotels around it.