The Louvre Museum; The Most Visited In The World
Categories : Exhibitions and Museums, published on : 9/18/14
A name known throughout the world, the Louvre Museum is both an historic monument and the world’s most visited museum, drawing an average of 15,000 visitors per day. It houses some 380,000 items, including 35,000 works of art and is the home of perhaps the most famous masterpiece of all, Leonardo da Vinci’s Mona Lisa. The Chess Hotel invites you to visit this national treasure house.
The Fascinating History Of The Louvre Museum
It was the Capetian king of France, Philip II, who built a 12 century fortress on the land where the Louvre stands today. The building underwent various alterations during the late medieval period until Charles V turned it into a royal residence in the 14th century.
The core of what would become the Louvre collection was formed during the reign of Francis I. A cultured man, he was aware of the wonders of the Italian Renaissance, and wished for a similar cultural blossoming in his own land. He acquired the Mona Lisa, which eventually came to the Louvre after the French Revolution.
In 1682, the Sun King, Louis XIV moved the royal household to the Palace of Versailles and the Louvre was used for displaying the royal collection of art and artifacts. During the French Revolution it was decreed that the building should become a public museum where the nation’s masterpieces would be exhibited. As such it opened on August 10th, 1793.
Today you can take various thematic visitor trails to discover the collections. Additionally, each season there are temporary exhibitions, such as the current one devoted to the contemporary works of Claude Lévêque.
Louvre Museum, 99 Rue de Rivoli, Paris 1e
Tel. 0033 (0)1 40 20 53 17
Metro : Louvre Rivoli, line 1 – Palais Royal Musée du Louvre, lines 1 and 7
