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Louvre

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Image:Louvre_at_night_centered.jpg thumb|250px|[[I.M. Pei's Louvre Pyramid: the entrance to the galleries lies below the glass pyramid.]] The '''Louvre Museum''' (''MusÃ©e du Louvre,'' pronounced {{IPA|/myze dy luvʁ/}} in French) in Paris, France, is one of the largest and most famous museums in the world. The building, a former royal palace, lies in the centre of Paris, between the Seine river and the Rue de Rivoli. Its central courtyard, now occupied by the Louvre Pyramid Louvre glass pyramid, lies in the axis of the Champs-Ã‰lysÃ©es, and thus forms the nucleus from which the ''Axe historique'' springs. Part of the royal Palace of the Louvre was first opened to the public as a museum on November 8, 1793, during the French Revolution. The Louvre is located at 36, Quai du Louvre, 75001 Paris, France.

The Building
Image:CastleLouvreModel.jpg thumb|250px|Model of the first royal "Castle of the Louvre". Image:Louvre.png thumb|250px|Map of the Louvre. The first royal "Castle of the Louvre" on this site was founded by Philip II of France Philippe II in 1190, as a fortress to defend Paris on its west against Viking attacks. In the 14th century 14^th century, Charles V of France Charles V turned it into a palace of the arts, but Francis I of France Francois I and Henry II of France Henri II tore it down to build a real palace; the Media:CastleLouvreFoundation.jpg foundations of the original fortress tower are now under the ''Salle des Cariatides'' (Room of the Caryatids). The existing part of the ChÃ¢teau du Louvre was begun in 1546. The architect Pierre Lescot introduced to Paris the new design vocabulary of the Renaissance, which had been developed in the chÃ¢teaux of the Loire. His new wing for the old castle defined its status, as the first among the royal palaces. J. A. du Cerceau also worked on the Louvre. During his reign (1589-1610), King Henri IV of France Henri IV added the Grande Galerie. More than a quarter of a mile long and one hundred feet wide, this huge addition was built along the bank of the Seine River and at the time was the longest edifice of its kind in the world. Henri IV, a promoter of the arts, invited hundreds of artists and craftsmen to live and work on the building's lower floors. This tradition continued for another two hundred years until Napoleon III ended it. Louis XIII of France Louis XIII (1610-1643) completed the Denon Wing, which had been started by Catherine de' Medici Catherine Medici in 1560. Today it has been renovated, as a part of the Grand Louvre Renovation Programme. The Richelieu Wing was also built by Louis XIII. It was part of the Ministry of Economy of France, which took up most of the north wing of the palace. The Ministry was moved and the wing was renovated and turned into magnificient galleries which were inaugurated in 1993, the 200^th anniversary of the Louvre Museum. Commissioned by King Louis XIV, architect Claude Perrault's eastern wing (1665-1680), crowned by an uncompromising Italian balustrade along its distinctly non-French flat roof, was a ground-breaking departure in French architecture. His severe design was chosen over a design provided by the great Bernini, who came to Paris for the purpose. Perrault had translated the Roman architect Vitruvius into French. Now Perrault's rhythmical paired columns form a shadowed colonnade with a central pediment pedimented triumphal arch entrance raised on a high, rather defensive basement, in a restrained classicizing baroque manner that has provided models for grand edifices in Europe and United States America for centuries. The Metropolitan Museum in New York City New York, for one example, reflects Perrault's Louvre design. Napoleon I built the Arc de Triomphe du Carrousel (Triumph Arch) in 1805 to commemorate his victories and the Jardin du Carrousel. In those times this garden was the entrance to the Tuileries Palace Palais des Tuileries. The Louvre was still being added to by Napoleon III. The new wing of 1852-1857, by architects Visconti and Hector Lefuel, represents the Second Empire's version of Neo-baroque, restlessly charged with detail everywhere and laden with sculpture. Work continued until 1876. In 1989, the Crystal Pyramid was inaugurated. It was designed and built by Ieoh Ming Pei. It was the first renovation of the Grand Louvre Project. Today, many renovations are taking place. One of the most recent was the renovation of the Carre Gallery, where the Mona Lisa is exhibited.

The museum
Image:Le_Louvre_-_Aile_Richelieu.jpg thumb| The Louvre holds the rich artistic heritage of the French people from the early Capetian Kings through the First French Empire Empire of Napoleon I of France Napoleon Bonaparte and to the present day. Long managed by the French state under the ''RÃ©union des MusÃ©es Nationaux'' the Louvre has recently acquired powers of self-management as an "Etablissement Public Autonome" in order to better manage its growth. Since September 14, 2005, the Louvre museum has gradually forbidden the taking of photos of its artworks.[http://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/It_is_forbidden_to_take_pictures_%21] Among the thousands of priceless paintings is Leonardo da Vinci's Mona Lisa, perhaps the most famous painting in the world; it is housed in the Salle des Etats in a climate-controlled environment behind protective glass. Works of artists like Fragonard, Rembrandt Harmenszoon van Rijn Rembrandt, Rubens, Titian, Nicolas Poussin Poussin, and Jacques Louis David David can also be seen. Among the well-known sculptures in the collection are the ''Winged Victory of Samothrace'' and the ''Venus de Milo''. The collection of Edmond James de Rothschild Baron Edmond de Rothschild (1845-1934), given to the Louvre in 1935, fills an exhibition room. It contains more than 40,000 engravings, nearly 3,000 drawings and 500 illustrated books. Besides art, the Louvre has many other types of exhibits, including archeology, history, and architecture. It has a large furniture collection, whose most spectacular item used to be the Bureau du Roi of the 18th century 18^th century, now returned to the Palace of Versailles. The most recent significant modification of the Louvre was the "Grand Louvre" project, under president FranÃ§ois Mitterrand. This opened the north wing of the building, which had hitherto housed government offices, and covered over several small internal courtyards. Most spectacular of all, it added a glass pyramid designed by the architect I. M. Pei at the center of the palace. The much expanded and re-organized Louvre reopened in 1989. The Louvre, being so famous, is widely used in novels and on television. Examples include a setting for the book ''The Da Vinci Code'' by Dan Brown, among others.

Le Louvre-Lens
Since a large part of the works in the Louvre are in storage, it was decided that an extension to the Louvre was to be created to the north of Paris. The project should be completed by 2009; the building will be capable of receiving between 500 and 600 major works. This new building should get about 500,000 visitors per year. There were six city candidates for this project: Amiens, Arras, Boulogne-sur-Mer, Calais, Lens, Pas-de-Calais Lens, and Valenciennes. On November 29, 2004, French Prime Minister Jean-Pierre Raffarin chose Lens (Pas-de-Calais) Lens to be the site of the new Louvre building. Le Louvre-Lens was the name chosen for the museum. The new building, under the administration of the [http://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Conseil_r%C3%A9gional_du_Nord-Pas-de-Calais Conseil rÃ©gional du Nord-Pas-de-Calais] will have semi-perminent exhibition space covering at least 5000mÂ². There will also be space set aside for temporary national and international exhibitions. The building project will consist of a group of glass and aluminum buildings in the middle of a large garden. The estimated cost for this building is 117 million euro, or 158.7 million US Dollars (as of January 2005). It was confirmed on September 26, 2005 with the Japanese office of architecture that [http://www.sanaa.co.jp/ SANAA], under the auspices of Kazuyo Sejima and Ryue Nishizawa, will be designing the building.

Access
{{station paris metro|Palais Royal - MusÃ©e du Louvre|Louvre Rivoli}}

Notable Works
{{commons|Louvre}} Famous Artworks in the Louvre Include: *''Et in Arcadia ego'' *''Lady of Auxerre'' *''Mona Lisa'' *''Nike of Samothrace'' (''illustrated'') *''Ship of Fools (painting) Ship of Fools'' *''Venus de Milo'' *''The Virgin and Child with St. Anne'' *''Susan in the Bath, Jean-Baptiste Santerre. *''Portait of Sigismondo Pandolfo Malatesta, Piero della Francesca. *Portait of Pierre Quthe, FranÃ§ois Clouet *La Pyramide InversÃ©e Image:louvre.courtyard.paris.arp.jpg|The main courtyard of the Louvre Image:Poussinorig.jpg|''Et in Arcadia ego'' Image:Lady-of-auxerre.jpg|''Lady of Auxerre'' Image:Mona Lisa.jpg|''Mona Lisa'' Image:Winged victory.jpg|''Nike of Samothrace'' Image:BoschShipOfFools.jpg|''Ship of Fools (painting) Ship of Fools'' Image:Wenuszmf.jpg|''Venus de Milo'' Image:Virginandchildwithstanne.JPG|''The Virgin and Child with St. Anne''

See also
* WebLouvre

External links
{{commons|Louvre}}
- Main website
- Louvre website (French)
- Louvre website (English)
- Louvre Travel Information
- Photos of Louvre museum and Paris
- Louvre.edu educational website (in French)
- History of the Louvre
- Revealing picture of the central pyramid
- Excerpt of Michael T. Cannell's book on I.M. Pei - discusses controversy over Pei's pyramid.
- MusÃ©e du Louvre – Louvre Museum – More than 10,000 pictures
- Free photos of Louvre {{CoorHeader|48|51|41|N|2|20|06|E|type:landmark}} Category:Art museums and galleries in Paris Category:Museums in Paris Category:History museums Category:National museums Category:Landmarks Category:Palaces in France Category:Pyramids Category:Royal residences Category:World Heritage Sites in France Category:I. M. Pei buildings Bethany and Lauren are doing this project!! ar:Ù…ØªØÙ? Ø§Ù„Ù„ÙˆÙ?Ø± bs:Luvr bg:Ð›ÑƒÐ²ÑŠÑ€ da:Louvre de:Louvre es:Museo del Louvre eo:Luvro fr:MusÃ©e du Louvre ga:Louvre ko:ë£¨ë¸Œë¥´ ë°•ë¬¼ê´€ hr:Louvre id:Museum Louvre it:MusÃ©e du Louvre di Parigi he:×ž×•×–×™×?×•×Ÿ ×”×œ×•×‘×¨ la:Luvrus lt:Luvras hu:Louvre nl:Louvre ja:ãƒ«ãƒ¼ãƒ´ãƒ«ç¾Žè¡“é¤¨ no:Louvre pl:Luwr pt:Museu do Louvre ro:Muzeul Luvru ru:Ð›ÑƒÐ²Ñ€ sq:Louvre simple:Louvre sk:Louvre sr:Ð›ÑƒÐ²Ñ€ fi:Louvre sv:Louvren vi:Báº£o tÃ ng Louvre tr:Louvre MÃ¼zesi zh:å?¢æµ®å®«

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