Louvre, Paris

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As I have seen Le Louvre in the early sixties (*) well before the pyramid which dates from 1989 but also well before the huge renovation works outside and inside undergone by the Palais du Louvre I have been wondering if I like the Pyramid or not.

For me the Pyramid is only a small part of the titanesque project called Grand Louvre which officially started in 1983 and aimed at transforming all the Palais du Louvre and the Tuileries in a grandiose museum increasing its surface from 57000 to 161000 m2. I'll just remember that till 1989 the Richelieu wing was occupied by the Ministry of Finances!

My favorite is this huge renovation work of the Palais du Louvre of which the Pyramid from Ming Pei was the only controversial part. For me it is a detail compared to what is on display inside the museum.
Presently I'm used to it standing in the main courtyard (photo 1) called Cour Napoléon. If I want to see what it looked before I go and look at the Cour Carrée (photo 2) in the back.

The problem with the Pyramid, now twenty years old, is that it can not handle the enormous number of visitors. It was conceived for 4 millions visitors/year and there were 8,9 million in 2011.
That’s why I recommend the other entries in my tip " Avoiding The Queues" or
" A shortcut to La Joconde - Mona Lisa"

There is now a projet aiming, after modifications, to increase the capacity at 10 million visitors.

(*) Can you imagine that on my first visit in 1961 we were only 4 visitors in front of "La Joconde"!

NB. I have problem with Le Louvre. There is so much to see in the eight departments, all of utmost importance for art and history, that the dilemma is the following: should I write one sole tip about Le Louvre; if yes I could review it all by "Wow, this is great!" and load up photos.
I apologize but I'm unable to follow that trend some would like to impose on VT.
But nobody is obliged to read my tips.

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At wing Denon one will find the most crowded part of Le Louvre with the Joconde room on the First floor but also the least visited part of the Museum with the Arts of Africa, Asia, Oceania and the Americas on the Ground floor at the entry of the Porte des Lions (ref my tip on this entry).
There are 7 rooms in this department and here the visitor can stand alone in front of some remarkable often surprising works of art.
I must admit I have a weakness for African art which I discovered when I was a kid by visiting the Museum for Central Africa near Brussels.

Le Louvre is showing some excellent sculptures which are coming from the Musée du Quai Branly and the Musée de l'Homme. The advantage over the Quai Branly is that Le Louvre allows taking photos prohibited at Branly. (Did you ever read the 6 pages - 4,2 Mb visitor rules of the quai Branly museum? Surrealistic; only in French).

My first photo shows an overall view. You can see that this is the place if you want to be alone at Le Louvre.
The second pic shows a sculpture of the civilisation of Ifè (Nigeria 13th c.) Photo n°3 is a woman of the Benin kingdom around 1600.
Changing of continent I much liked this frightening "Korwar" sculpture (photo 4) from Indonesia (18th c.). The head of the figure is a skull container.
My wife showed a real enthusiasm for this sculpture (17th c., photo 5) of the Easter Island; the resemblance with me is striking she said!

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This is one of the most spectacular departments of the Louvre with the Cour Khorsabad on the ground floor of the Richelieu wing. My first visit was here in the nineties and I like at each of my visits to the museum to spend at least a half hour among the winged human-headed bulls, lions, royal archers of these very ancient empires.
The Near Eastern Antiquities Department has for object the ancient civilizations of the Near East. This period extends from ten thousand years ago, to the advent of Islam. The names of Sumer, Ur, Babylonia, Hittites, Assyria and many others are illustrated in this department.

The Cour (courtyard) Khorsabad was named after a city in northern Iraq where excavations (1843-1854) showed the existence of a palace build by King Sargon II in 706 BC. The excavations were started by Paul-Emile Botta consul of France in Mossoul. Sad for the Louvre is the fact that during transport on the river Tigris a large part of the objects found in Khorsabad were lost in a shipwreck.

The architecture of the palace was recreated by displaying in their original configuration the monumental sculptures which were found.
Most spectacular are the human-headed winged bulls of 4 x 4 m (photo 1). They were protective genies placed as guardians at the gates of the city. Visitors always like to have their photo taken in front of these bulls but one of them is a copy (the original is in the Oriental Institute of Chicago).
The "Hero Overpowering a Lion" is also one of the major sculptures (5,52 m high) of this part of the Louvre (photo 2).

Most famous in this department are the glazed brick decorations of the palace of Darius at Suza with the frieze of the archers (photo 3) and the frieze of the lions (photo 4) in room 12b.
Special and well conserved for his age (2100 BC) is that seated statue of Goudea prince of Lagash (Sumer) in room 2.
As this Near Eastern department covers 25 rooms a half hour visiting might be a bit short!*

Open:
Monday, Thursday, Saturday, Sunday: from 9 to 18 h.
Wednesday, Friday: from 9 to 22 h.
Closed on Tuesday

Entrances to the museum:
Pyramid and Galerie du Carrousel entrances: from 9 to 22 h.
Passage Richelieu entrance: from 9 to 18 h.
Porte des Lions entrance: from 9 to 17.30 h., except Friday.

Price tickets for the Permanent Collections (2012)
€10: full-day access to the Louvre, except for temporary exhibitions in the Hall Napoléon
also valid for the Musée Eugène Delacroix.
Free less than 18 yr.
Free 18 - 25 yr from the EU.
Free for all on the first Sunday of every month.

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The department of Greek, Etruscan, and Roman Antiquities underwent reorganization in order to improve the exhibition spaces. On my visit in August 2009 rooms 7, 14 - 16 on the Sully ground floor were closed.
The rooms devoted to the classical Greek and Hellenistic art (Sully, rooms 7-17) were completely refurbished, and are again open to the public since July 7, 2010.
The Venus of Milo stands in room 7 (will be moved to room 16).
The highlight of the museum, the Winged Victory of Samothrace stands at the staircase linking the Denon and Sully wings (28 on the museum map).

To these highlights of the Western art was added in 2004 a remarkable acquisition; a life-sized horse's head (photo 1), fragment from an Archaic Greek sculpture dating from the 6th century BC.

We spent some time admiring the Greek terracotta figurines - arranged chronologically, geographically, and thematically - in rooms 35 - 37 of what is called the Musée Charles X.
You will find here an amazing combination of a palace décor from 1827 evoking Homer, Pompeii and Herculaneum, executed by the best artists (a.o. Ingres, Vernet, Fragonard) from the reign of Charles X and antiquities collections.
These rooms have been renovated and are just wonderful by the décor and the content (photo 2).

The terracotta figures ("Tanagra figurines") date from the Archaic, Pre-Classical Hellenistic and Roman periods. I much liked a small and quite elegant "Victory with wings" from 190 BC (photo 3).

Here are also on display in new and elegant showcases a large number of Greek vases of all shapes (the Louvre collection counts 2700 vases): amphora, krater, hydria, long shaped lekythos, cups and some interesting rythons with a head of a donkey. Unique is this oenochoe (wine jug) in the form of a head from a black slave (photo 4 - room 43).

Rooms 1 to 3 (pre-classical Greece), Denon wing, lower ground floor, will be closed until Spring 2012.

Price tickets for the Permanent Collections
€10: full-day access to the Louvre,
Free less than 18 yr. Free 18 - 25 yr from the EU.
Free for all on the first Sunday of every month.

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If you enter Le Louvre by the Pyramide you will have to follow a long and slow way to reach La Joconde - Mona Lisa in Wing Denon, 1st floor, room 6, because the stairs passing by the Samothrace Victory statue are usually crowded with visitors.

Best, if you are short in time, is to use the entrance of the Porte des Lions located at the end of the Denon wing near the Seine with the Pont Royal and the Quai des Tuileries.
I have used that entrance since 2008 and never met queues.
The problem is that THIS ENTRANCE WITHOUT QUEUS WAS CLOSED ON FRIDAYS BUT NOW SINCE BEGIN 2013 ALSO ON WEDNESDAYS!
That means that presently one can use this entrance only on Monday, Thursday, Saturday and Sunday. Before the opening hours were from 9 to 17.30 h but now the museum mentions "Opening hours: please contact us at +33 (0)1 40 20 53 17" what is very strange! I would suggest being there well before 17.00 h as on those days the museum closes at 18 h.
Tickets (11 €) can be bought at the desk or from a machine.

This entrance of the Porte des Lions opens on the department of African Arts. There is no connection by the Ground floor to the other part of the Denon wing.
By taking the stair case or elevator the visitors reach the 1st floor with the rooms on Spanish paintings and then the Grande Galerie (Italian paintings) with on the left room 6 and the "Joconde".

Entering by the Porte des Lions at 9 h will allow you to admire Mona Lisa at close distance. Just have a look at my photos showing no crowd at 9.20 h and the crowd at 11 h.

The Louvre has a sound policy for photography and filming. The "règlement" is found on www.lelouvre.fr > Visit > Aids & Amenities > Amenities.
Changes occured in 2008 as you will read from following text:

Règlement de visite du Musée.

Une nouvelle rédaction de l’article 33 du règlement de visite concernant l'autorisation de photographier dans les salles du musée vient d'être adopté par le Conseil d'administration :

"Dans les salles des collections permanentes, les œuvres peuvent être photographiées ou filmées pour l’usage privé de l’opérateur.
L’usage des flashes, et autres dispositifs d’éclairage est prohibé.
Dans les salles d'expositions temporaires, il est interdit de photographier et de filmer.
Il est également interdit de filmer et de photographier les installations et les équipements techniques"

Museum photography policy

The museum's board of directors has recently (2008) adopted a new Regulation regarding photography in the museum:

"Still and video photography is permitted for private, non commercial use only in the galleries housing the permanent collection.
The use of flash or other means of artificial lighting is prohibited.
Photography and filming are not permitted in the temporary exhibition galleries. The same restrictions apply to the photographing or filming of technical installations and equipment."

This is an important change because previously photography and filming were prohibited on the first floor of the Denon wing at the galleries of Italian (includes Mona Lisa), Spanish and French (large-format) paintings as well as the Apollo gallery in the same Denon wing. Elsewhere photography and filming was allowed even with flash although this was discouraged.

I never use a flash because many paintings are behind glass or are varnished what reflects the flash light; same for all objects protected by windows.
The exhibition rooms at Le Louvre are rather dark so that you have to adjust the ISO sensitivity of your photo apparatus. Further problem are the windows or lights reflecting on the exhibited objects.

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When you are in the Richelieu wing on the first floor which shows the decorative arts from the Middle Ages to the 19th c. you must visit the large room 19 of the Renaissance section.

Here are hanging 12 of the most beautiful tapestries in the world called the "Hunts of Maximilian". Archduke Maximilian of Habsbourg, later emperor of Austria was the brother of Emperor Charles V (Charles Quint born in Gent, Belgium) who in that time had his palace in Brussels. He liked to go hunting in the forest of Soignes (still existing) just outside Brussels. The 12 large (about 5 x 7 m) tapestries show scenes of hunting at the 12 months of the year.

The picturesque, realistic and detailed landscapes show, in the back ground, the still existing abbey of Rouge Cloître, the village of La Hulpe and the town hall of Brussels.

The inspiration is from the Italian renaissance, the technical mastery is that of the painter and cartoon designer Bernard van Orley and the weavers from Brussels (ref. my tip on Brussels tapestries at the Musée d'Art et d'Histoire, Cinquantenaire, Brussels).
They were manufactured between 1531 and 1533 probably by Guillaume Dermoyen.
The "lissiers" tapestry weavers used two type of weaving loom: the horizontal loom called "basse lisse" and the vertical one "haute lisse". In both case the weavers worked on the back side. It has been calculated that one "lissier" would weave about 1 square meter in one month!

Although ordered by the Habsbourg, in the 16th c. they belonged to the French Ducs de Guise, then Mazarin and King Louis XIV. These tapestries contain gold wire but fortunately escaped the destructions of the French revolutionaries.
The French Manufacture des Gobelins made a number of copies of the original tapestries around 1700.

These 12 marvellous tapestries are very well presented in the large room 19.
It is sad that so few visitors of the museum stop here to really look at them.

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Many amateurs of art estimate that wing Richelieu is the best part of Le Louvre.
I do agree. It starts on the Ground Floor with the French Sculptures in Cour Puget (photo 2) and Cour Marly, the amazing sculptures of Mesopotamia in Cour Khorsabad.
On the First Floor are the Decorative Arts from the Middle Ages, Renaissance (ref. my tip on the tapestries) 17th c. furniture with Charles Boulle (photo 3), 18th and 19th c.
The visit of the Napoleon III apartments (photo 1) and the Restoration and July Monarchy is a must.
On the Second Floor is on display a very good collection of Dutch paintings, with two Vermeer, Flemish (Van Eyck - photo 4) and German painters mainly from the 15th to the 17th c. I will come back on this collection of paintings.

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As soon as you reach the Second Floor of Wing Richelieu by the main escalator you will see the large Gallery Medicis with 24 large paintings (1622-1625) by Rubens (photo 5). These paintings ordered by Queen Marie de Medicis glorify this famous Queen of France (wife of Henri IV and mother of Louis XIII).
From here you may visit about 40 smaller rooms with a large collection of Flemish, Dutch and German paintings from the 15th to the 17th century.

The highlights of this collection are from the Flemish School (Flemish Primitives):
Jan Van Eyck "La vierge du Chevalier Rolin" (1434), Rogier van der Weyden "L'Annonciation" (1435). Room 5 shows six paintings of Hans Memling (photo 4) what makes of Le Louvre the second museum outside the town of Brugge to have so many Memling's. From the 16th c. is shown the famous painting "Prêteur et sa femme" (1514) from Quentin Metsys (photo 1) and a small Pieter Bruegel "Les mendiants" (1568).

The Dutch School is very well represented by two Vermeer's "La Dentellière" and "l'Astronome" in room 38 (photo 2). I was pleased to see that tourists, mainly from Asia, have now discovered the existence of these two Vermeer's at the Louvre; on my previous visits I was nearly alone in that section, no more now. Nearly all famous Dutch painters of the 17th c. are on display here: Rembrandt with "Bethsabée au bain" (1654), Frans Hals with the excellent "la Bohémienne" (1666) (photo 3), Pieter de Hooch, Van Ruysdael, Wouverman and many others shown in small cabinets.

The German school is present with great names such as Dürer, Cranach and Holbein with a famous portrait of "Erasmus" (1523).

Even the tourist on a 1 day visit of Le Louvre should not omit to spend some time on this 2nd Floor of Richelieu Wing.

Open:
Monday, Thursday, Saturday, Sunday: from 9 to 18 h.
Wednesday, Friday: from 9 to 22 h.
Closed on Tuesday

Entrances to the museum:
Pyramid and Galerie du Carrousel entrances: from 9 to 22 h.
Passage Richelieu entrance: from 9 to 18 h.
Porte des Lions entrance: from 9 to 17.30 h., except Friday.

Price tickets for the Permanent Collections (2011)
€10: full-day access to the Louvre, except for temporary exhibitions in the Hall Napoléon
also valid for the Musée Eugène Delacroix.
Free less than 18 yr.
Free 18 - 25 yr from the EU.
Free for all on the first Sunday of every month.

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With more than 50.000 objects the Egyptian collection of the Louvre is the second in the world after Cairo. This is not surprising as the collection started with Napoleon Bonaparte's expedition to Egypt between 1798 and 1801.
It was the talented French linguist Jean-François Champollion who solved the enigma of Pharaonic writing in 1822 and was appointed curator of a new department in the Louvre that was inaugurated in 1827 under King Charles X.
Another famous name was the archaeologist Mariette who became the first director of Egyptian Antiquities.

In 1997, during the Grand Louvre renovation project, this huge collection was distributed on two different floors of Wing Sully. As the heaviest objects had to remain on the ground floor it was impossible to arrange the works by period.
This ground floor with 19 rooms, including the temple room (12) and the sarcophagi room (14), features a thematic installation centred on the major aspects of Egyptian civilization i.e. the daily life in Ancient Egypt.
The 1st floor of wing Sully (rooms 20 to 30) presents a chronological approach, highlighting the different historical periods and the development of Egyptian art from 4000 BC to 400 AD.

Numbers of visitors of Le Louvre are coming here with the sole aim to visit the Egyptian department; for the others it would be a real pity not to spend at least one hour here.
The most famous artefact which always impresses the visitors is "The Seated Scribe" (c. 2620-2500 BC) in room 22 on 1st floor wing Sully. The inlaid eyes are the most striking aspect of this sculpture; furthermore nothing is known about the person portrayed!