Article 5

The Louvre Museum

I recently visited the world renowned Louvre museum in Paris. Exploring the museum myself was a great opportunity. The museum was initially a palace. The palace converted to present day museum is a house for around 35000 objects. It houses the statues and paintings from world renowned artists like Michelangelo and Leonardo De Vinci. The Louvre has always been an important tourist attraction as has The Eiffel been. But the museum earned more importance and attention after Dan Brown wrote and published his novel The Da Vinci Code. The novel gained so much attention that it was shortly converted into a motion film.

The museum is divided into different wings displaying Greek, Roman, Egyptian and Oriental art. Some of the famous displays are The Venus of Milo, The dying slave by Michelangelo and the much talked about Mona Lisa by Leonardo Da Vinci. Mona Lisa was one of the most controversial topic recently for many said it was a man and not a lady painted. Some even claimed the painting was Leonardo himself. He had imagined and painted himself. Whatever it is nobody still has any authenticity about what they say.

Tracing back the museums history it was originally built as a fortress in 12th century which was later converted to a royal palace in 14th century. The present day appearance dates back to 15th century when the fortress was burnt down and a new wing was added along the Seine river. The construction of the Louvre halted for sometime when king Louis XIV decided to move to Palace of Versailles.

The collection of the Louvre Museum was made when King Francis I purchased the now famous Mona Lisa painting and the collection grew steadily. The royal collection opened to the public during the French Revolution in 1793.

The main symbol of the museum is a glass pyramid. There is also as inverted pyramid just below the main glass pyramid.

The Louvre being one of the largest museum in the world should be visited by anybody who has even a bit of interest in art. The museum is lighted beautifully during the night with its glass pyramid at the entrance being the main attraction.


-Yesha Bhatt
St. Xaviers College

Printed on 29th Oct 2010