The Louvre has a rich history and was once a fortress, a royal palace as well as a prison before its modern day incarnation and its design structure exemplifies the building type of the renaissance. The Louvre that stands today is the result of 800 years of successive building over various projects.
The entrance to this grand museum lies in the form of an enormous glass pyramid structure which leads guests to an underground lobby and then allows them to re-ascend in to the main Louvre building. This entrance that consists of 603 rhombus-shaped and 70 triangular glass segments is a wonder to behold in itself.
The museum holds more than 380,000 objects and displays 35,000 works of art. The Louvre also holds a grand total of 11,900 paintings though not all are displayed at once. Visitors can peruse these exhibits and soak in the wide variety of historically and culturally diverse art that adorns the museum’s walls and display cases.
The Louvre features a variety of categories such as decorative art that houses a collection of items such as jewellery, ceramics, furniture and tapestries amongst others. The Egyptian antiques section contains a large collection of artwork from the many civilizations that had their homes along the river Nile. The Greek, Etruscan and Roman collection features pieces that originated from the Mediterranean basin while The Islamic Art collection houses works that span ‘thirteen centuries and three continents’.
The Louvre offers a range of cultural and educational activities including guided tours that will allow visitors to discover the rich history that lies beneath each of the works of art that are on display. Being able to travel to the Louvre is made easy by staying in one of the luxury hotels in Paris.