The Louvre in Paris
Trip Start
Mar 07, 2001
1
6
7
Trip End
Mar 18, 2001
Paris, France
Thursday, March 15, 2001
Margaret and I had not read anything about the museum and had just heard that it contained very famous works of art such as the Venus de Milo and Mona Lisa. As we stood in the street looking up at the building, it of course looked large but just a big, several block long building. One enters and goes downstairs to a lower ground floor where we had to gather all the students. We had to leave all the backpacks in a huge wheeled storage bin (like a coat check area) before we could enter the rest of the museum. Very efficient because there were many groups and backpacks and students seem to go together.
Up an escalator and back to the main floor brought us to a center courtyard area under a glass pyramid. Before going further I wanted to see the upper area . There the true immensity of the museum became apparent. We were in the center of a huge palace courtyard and the different buildings housed the different collections. It was awesome to realize the extent of this museum. A map showed us that what I had initially thought was a building a few blocks long was really 6 blocks long and that building was only one side of the giant U shaped palace.
Everything was on such a huge scale. The entire museum/palace now contains approximately 93,000 works of art. We were interested in Egyptian art but then read that: "Department of Egyptian Antiquities has gained an extra 60% of exhibition space. It now presents 5,000 works in 30 rooms.
Where to start? After marveling at the beautiful statues in Venice and Florence, we decided to start with Sculptures, and first with the "Greek, Etruscan and Roman Antiquities" section.
The guide book states: "The Department of Sculptures of the Louvre museum incorporates sculptures from the Middle Ages, the Renaissance and modern times. The collections in the Louvre museum include sculptures in marble, stone, bronze and wood. The works included in this department cover the Greek, Etruscan and Roman civilizations. They illustrate the artistic activity of a vast region, mainly centered around the Mediterranean, whose history dates back to the Neolithic period (IVth millennium B.C.) up to the VIth century A.D."
This one section took us most of the time that was allotted to us. Incredible works of art. We made our way to the Venus de Milo, a sculpture which was found in the second century B.C. on the island of Milos in the Aegean Sea.
Aphrodite was her Greek name, but the Romans called her Venus. She was found during the second century B.C. The 6' 6" piece used to have arms, but no one knows for certain what position they were in.
One of the most impressive marble sculptures we viewed was the "Victory of Samothrace". (Samothrace is an island in the North Aegean Sea). It depicts a lady on the bow of a ship crashing through the sea. "The giant wings thrust the lady forward, and the clothes of the figure, damp from ocean spray and blown by sea winds, cling to her body. This spectacular piece stands 6' 9 1/2" tall and is almost 2200 years old."
So many exquisite sculptures. Another one that amazed us was of Aphrodite in robes, the hems of which were so amazingly thin that it looked like she was draped in cloth instead of marble.
Finally we left this area to see the Mona Lisa.
"The Louvre museum houses more than 6 000 European paintings dating from the end of the XIIIth century to the mid XIXth century. The most famous painting in the Louvre is Mona Lisa, painted by Leonardo da Vinci. This painting, considered da Vinci's most perfect work, took four years to complete and measures 30 1/4" by 20 3/4". Leonardo Da Vinci painted the Mona Lisa on a piece of pine wood in the year 1506."
What a disappointment! While most of the other famous works of art we saw on our tour were exhibited in the best possible settings, this had to be the worst. This small painting was in a huge room with giant sized paintings on the other walls. The Mona Lisa is behind a secure area, behind a glass wall, hung in a separate hermetically sealed room. One is better off looking at a print of the painting.
Last week, I read in the Toronto Star that the Louvre is responding to numerous complaints and has funded a million dollar renovation of that section to display the Mona Lisa in a better setting.
Have you ever wondered about the Mona Lisa and her smile? Well then, you should check out the following site to discover the latest theory on this famous painting. Also use this site to visit the Louvre to see Leonardo's art: http://library.thinkquest.org/13681/data/davin2.shtml
If you are interested in the history of the Louvre, the official site is excellent: http://www.louvre.fr/louvrea.htm From this site, I edited the content to prepare the following brief history.
The Louvre, the richest of museums, has stood for more than 800 years and reflects stages of change in French life through the centuries. The earliest known building was a fortress built about 1190. The fortress not only protected the city of Paris from invasions from the west but protected the king from his own subjects on the east. This fortress served as an arsenal, its dungeons housed political prisoners, and its rooms held the royal treasures--icons, armor, manuscripts, and jewelry.
By about 1400, the Louvre had become a royal retreat where banquets, tournaments, and state occasions were held. It was at this time that elaborate gardens were added and an aviary for exotic birds as well as a host of wild animals.
In 1415, the French were conquered by the English who then plundered the Louvre. The Louvre, just an arsenal and prison once again, was neglected for 150 years and its buildings fell into ruin. Francis I, in 1546, put artisans to work erecting a palace, the beginning of the Louvre as we know it today. His son Henry II had such imagination and grand plans for the Louvre that it was more than 300 years before these plans became reality. Each king after Henry II attempted to complete the plans for the Louvre--it was a "work-in-progress."
During the reign of Henry IV, the Louvre began to become the artistic capital of the world. Hundreds of artists and craftsmen lived in the Louvre as guests of the king, a royal tradition which continued until the reign of Napoleon I. Under Louis XIV, the government made it its business to promote art, and by the early 1700's the royal collection contained more than 2400 objects of art. New wings were added to the Palace of the Tuileries, which housed the residence and throne room of Louis XIV; the Petite Galerie, built for Catharine de Medicis, was enlarged; buildings were constructed on three sides of the quadrangle of the old Louvre; the Gallery of the Kings, which had burned previously, was replaced by the Gallery of Apollo. The Louvre was nearing completion; however, when Louis XIV moved to Versailles the Louvre began to fall into disrepair. Hovels and trash filled its courtyards, shops were set up in its entrances, and the poor set up residence in its unfinished buildings.
In 1793, after the French revolution, Napoleon instituted renovations of both the interior and exterior of the Louvre and removed all the shops and hovels that filled the Louvre in the 18th century. The Louvre became a public museum. Art was no longer available only to the upper classes, but became accessible to everyone.
Advice:
Unlike us, go to the web site and study up on the Louvre and its exhibits. Unless you are going to go back each day for a week, make a plan so that you ensure that you at least see whatever interests you the most. Lastly, try to be prepared for the largest, most awe inspiring museum you will ever enter.
