Musée du Louvre
Good for: Paintings, Art Enthusiasts, Art affectionados, discover Paris, art
Not good for: couch potatoes, food, crowds, expensive coffee
- Address
- place du Louvre 1er
- Transport
- Website
- Phone
- 01 40 20 53 17
- Price
- permanent collections/permanent collections & temporary exhibitions €9.50/14, after 6pm Wed & Fri €6/12
- Hours
- 9am-6pm Mon, Thu, Sat & Sun, 9am-10pm Wed & Fri
Lonely Planet review for Musée du Louvre
The vast Palais du Louvre was constructed as a fortress by Philippe-Auguste in the early 13th century and rebuilt in the mid-16th century for use as a royal residence. In 1793 the Revolutionary Convention turned it into the nation’s first national museum.
The paintings, sculptures and artefacts on display in the Louvre Museum have been assembled by French governments over the past five centuries. Among them are works of art and artisanship from all over Europe and important collections of Assyrian, Etruscan, Greek, Coptic and Islamic art and antiquities. Traditionally the Louvre’s raison d’être is to present Western art from the Middle Ages to about the year 1848 (at which point the Musée d’Orsay takes over), as well as the works of ancient civilisations that informed Western art.
When the museum opened in the late 18th century, it contained 2500 paintings and objets d’art; today some 35,000 are on display. The ‘Grand Louvre’ project, inaugurated by the late President Mitterrand in 1989, doubled the museum’s exhibition space, and new and renovated galleries have opened in recent years devoted to objets d’art such as Sèvres porcelain and the crown jewels of Louis XV (room 66, 1st floor, Apollo Gallery, Denon Wing).
The Louvre may be the most actively avoided museum in the world. Daunted by the richness and sheer size of the place (the side facing the Seine is some 700m long, and it is said that it would take nine months just to glance at every piece of art here), both local people and visitors often find the prospect of an afternoon at a smaller museum far more inviting. Eventually, most people do their duty and come, but many leave overwhelmed, unfulfilled, exhausted and frustrated at having got lost on their way to da Vinci’s La Joconde, better known as Mona Lisa (room 6, 1st floor, Salle de la Joconde, Denon Wing). Your best bet – after checking out a few works you really want to see – is to choose a particular period or section of the Louvre and pretend that the rest is in another museum somewhere across town.
The most famous works from antiquity include the Seated Scribe (room 22, 1st floor, Sully Wing), the Code of Hammurabi (room 3, ground floor, Richelieu Wing) and that armless duo, the Venus de Milo (room 7, ground floor, Denon Wing) and the Winged Victory of Samothrace (opposite room 1, 1st floor, Denon Wing). From the Renaissance, don’t miss Michelangelo’s The Dying Slave (ground floor, Michelangelo Gallery, Denon Wing) and works by Raphael, Botticelli and Titian (1st floor, Denon Wing). French masterpieces of the 19th century include Ingres’ The Turkish Bath (room 60, 2nd floor, Sully Wing), Géricault’s The Raft of the Medusa (room 77, 1st floor, Denon Wing) and works by Corot, Delacroix and Fragonard (2nd floor, Denon Wing).
The main entrance and ticket windows in the Cour Napoléon are covered by the 21m-high Pyramide du Louvre, a glass pyramid designed by the Chinese-born American architect IM Pei. You can avoid the queues outside the pyramid or at the Porte des Lions entrance by entering the complex via the Carrousel du Louvre shopping centre entrance, at 99 rue de Rivoli, or by following the ‘Musée du Louvre’ exit from the Palais Royal–Musée du Louvre metro station.
You can also buy your tickets in advance from the ticket machines in the Carrousel du Louvre or from the billetteries (ticket offices) of Fnac or Virgin Megastores for an extra €1 to €1.60, and walk straight in without queuing. Tickets are valid for the whole day, so you can come and go as you please.
Free English-language plans (maps) of the labyrinthine Louvre can be obtained from the circular information desk in the centre of the Hall Napoléon. Excellent publications to self-guide include the Louvre Visitors’ Guide (€8), Louvre Masterpieces (€10), Louvre: The 300 Masterpieces (€12) and the hefty, 485-page A Guide to the Louvre (€17). All are available from the museum bookshop.
English-language guided tours (01 40 20 52 63) lasting 1½ hours depart from the area under the Grande Pyramide, marked Acceuil des Groupes (Groups Reception), at 11am, 2pm and (sometimes) 3.45pm Monday and Wednesday to Saturday. Tickets cost €5 in addition to the cost of admission. Sign up at least 30 minutes before departure time.
Self-paced audioguides in six languages, with 1½ hours of commentary, can be rented for €6 under the pyramid at the entrance to each wing.
The Louvre is divided into four sections: the Sully, Denon and Richelieu Wings and the Hall Napoléon. The split-level public area under the glass pyramid is known as the Hall Napoléon(9am-10pm Wed-Mon; temporary exhibition galleries 9am-6pm Mon, Thu & Sun, 9am-10pm Wed, 9am-8pm Sat).The hall has temporary exhibition halls, bookshop and souvenir store, a café and auditoriums for lectures and films. The centrepiece of the Carrousel du Louvre, the shopping centre that runs underground from the pyramid to the Arc de Triomphe du Carrousel, is the pyramide inversée(inverted glass pyramid), also by Pei.
Traveller reviews for Musée du Louvre (15)
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Great and outstanding
phileasfoggg recommends this,
Thanks travelerexpress! We visited Louvre with parisdartiste.com and became real artists. We enjoyed a lot. Thank you very much for your post.
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Discover Louvre Museum with an artist !
travelerexpress recommends this,
I just discovered the drawing classes of 'Paris d'Artiste' (www.parisdartiste.com) and strongly recommend them. I went to Louvre museum, brought my drawing stuff and a professional teacher went showed me places I never went to. I improved my drawing skills thanks to the artist, who also speaks English. They offer classes at least twice a week and on Saturdays, just check their website.
Good for: Paintings, Art Enthusiasts, Art affectionados, discover Paris
Not good for: couch potatoes
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Art history class cannot prepare you for seeing the original
stella67 recommends this,
This is one of my favourite places in Paris, I spent a whole day in the Louvre and if I'd had more time I would have gone back for more. Nothing beats seeing the work of arts great masters in the flesh. No book, picture or postcard will ever do it justice!
If you don't know much about art a headset or tour is a must. It's much more enjoyable when you know a little about what you're looking at, otherwise it's all a bit overwhelming.Good for: art
Not good for: food
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The Ancient Egypt exhibit was like being thrust back in time
sajrmullins recommends this,
We spent almost 4 hours looking at all the artifacts and basically ran out of time to see everything else. Go early and plan to spend most of your day there. Go to the "must-see" exhibits first and don't linger too long in one spot!
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at least do it the courtesy of a few visits
melyuan recommends this,
The Louvre is not a one visit museum. To even pretend to have 'been' you must go a couple of times. Get the obvious higlights out of the way first - Venus, Winged Victory, Mona Lisa, in the sculpture and Italian painting rooms - then branch out and find the epic David series or the Assyrian sculptures. I've been to Paris twice and visited probably 5 times - but I'm saving myself the oriental and islamic collections for the next trip!
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Centuries of European history in a single building
matpalm recommends this,
A mandatory visit and well worthy of 2-3 days of your time. Beware of museum overload though, it's a biggggg place. Enter from the underground train station, NOT from above ground, much shorted queues.
Good for: culture, history
Not good for: crowds, expensive coffee
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Plan your work and work your plan
nomad_matt recommends this,
It would be criminal to give the Louvre a miss on your visit to Paris.
It would be equally criminal to visit the Louvre without a plan.
Some suggestions:
1. Arrive when it opens and make a B-line to the Mona Lisa. If you can't do this, try to see it on a Wednesday or Friday night. When we visited, we went on a Friday night and traveled freely through the museum.2. Plan to spend several days of 2-3 hour visits: otherwise, it's overwhelming and you won't appreciate the art.
3. DO NOT try to go free on the first Sunday: the queue is not worth it.
4. If you're visiting Paris for several days, get a Paris Museum Pass. This gives you "fast pass" access to almost every museum, bypassing all other queues (as well as multiple entries to the Louvre).
5. Identify target areas before you go and stick to the plan. This will make your visit much more enjoyable and give you more time to appreciate the art.
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beware
heebee recommends this,
The Louvre can be a real lowlight if you're not careful. If you are just dabbling, then do like the reviewer's friend (below) and march through your tick-list without looking left or right. If you want to wander, try to pick a quiet(er) time and be prepared for visual indigestion; know when everything is starting to look the same and flee.
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Louvre tips
djebru recommends this,
The Louvre is insanely big, insanely popular, and insanely great. You don't need to know whether you should go - you should - just how.
My first visit, i went with a friend who wanted a whirlwind tour. He had a checklist of four or five masterpieces - Winged Victory, Mona Lisa, Michaelangelo's Slaves, etc - and he got a map and we flew around his list in about 45 minutes. He was extremely happy with his visit, and i had a sense of where i wanted to spend time when i went back. That helped - knowing the layout and the areas to concentrate on meant i wasn't overwhelmed.
On a more recent visit to Paris, we arrived on a Wednesday and headed to the Louvre some time after 6pm (it's open late Wednesdays and Fridays). The ticket price is reduced, the queues are much shorter and the galleries are less crowded. It's the best time to go, imo.
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