Winged Victory of Samothrace
One of the most celebrated sculptures in the world — the goddess Nike alighting on the prow of a ship, carved in Parian marble around 190 BC.
Discovered in 1863 on the island of Samothrace in the northern Aegean by the French diplomat Charles Champoiseau, the statue once crowned a monument overlooking the sanctuary of the Great Gods. It depicts Nike, the personification of victory, landing on the bow of a warship, her wings still beating and her drapery pressed against her body by the sea wind.
Standing about 2.75 metres tall — more than 5.5 metres with its ship-shaped base — the figure is a masterpiece of Hellenistic sculpture, prized for its sense of movement and the illusion of wet, wind-blown cloth carved from marble. The head and arms were never recovered, yet the statue loses none of its force.
Since 1884 the Victory has stood at the top of the Daru staircase in the Denon wing, one of the most dramatic settings in the museum. It remains one of the Louvre's three most famous works, alongside the Mona Lisa and the Venus de Milo.
- 🪽TypeParian marble · Hellenistic
- 🏛️OriginSanctuary of Samothrace
- 📅Datec. 190 BC
- 🏛️RoomDaru staircase · Denon wing
- 📍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.