The Musee du Louvre is an unmissable excursion for any one staying in Paris. It is basically a huge museum and art gallery in the centre of town. It is easy reachable by bus or on foot and even has its own Metro station, the station itself is worth a look (the poshest Metro station I have ever seen, with museum type displays along the walls). On one side of the Louvre is the busy shopping street of rue de Rivoli and on the other is the Seine, flowing past.
Entry costs 49 francs, which drops to 33 francs after 3pm and on some nights the museum is open as late as 10pm. The place is huge, divided into three wings - Sully, Denon and Richelieu. The most interesting way to gain entry is through the glass pyramid in the centre of the three wings. It contrasts sharply with the old
style grand architecture which surrounds it.
What is in the Louvre? Well, what isn't? The place is huge, housing over 30,000 works of art and it is perpetually busy. The French inability to correctly signpost things again seemed in evidence here, each wing is divided into ten and colour coded but it is still very confusing and difficult to find specific things. The seven main categories of stuff on show are Egyptian Antiquities (a massive collection of objects, statues and sarcophagi much of which Napoleon brought back from his time in the land of the Pharoahs), Greek and Roman antiquities (including the Venus de Milo), Oriental antiquities, sculpture, painting and applied and graphic arts.
The Applied Arts section is mostly incredibly expensive looking furniture but also includes interesting items such as the travelling case owned by Marie-Antoinette an intricate array of royal neccessities. The sculpture section covers the development of the art in France, Italy and northern Europe including pieces by Michelangelo and Rodin.
Most people probably visit for the paintings, which is by far the largest section. There are paintings from throughout history and from across Europe, the array of themes is astounding and a large number of them look familiar, although it is often strange to see them first hand. There are some beautiful works of art on display yet for some reason most people flock to see the Mona Lisa. It is a small painting of a boring looking woman, who cares whether she is smiling? I guarantee if you take a wander round you will see literally loads of other paintings which are more impressive than this stupidly overrated piece, I would not waste time in the crowd trying to get close to the Mona Lisa, if that is what you want to see go really early or really late.
The queue for the Louvre is quite bad, especially if you decide to wait until three for the cheaper price. We waited almost an hour to get in if you count both the outside queue, and then once in, the second queue for the actual tickets (a nonsensical system which increases stress and provides more opportunities to choose the slow queue, which I have an uncanny ability to do). In the main concourse area you can get into each of the three wings as well as a coffee shop and some toilets, there are free maps on offer too but they provide scant help in assisting you navigate the labyrinthe of the Louvre.
When we visited there was also a display of African, Australian and American art from the native tribes. This formed a unique display and included a chance to sit down and rest your weary feet while playing with a computer programme which was full of interesting information. The place is so huge it is difficult not to do lots of walking so be prepared.
I really enjoyed the Louvre, once inside, although I don't think we saw more than a fraction of what was on offer. In order to really explore a place like this you would need to visit a few times. I think there was disabled access in the shape of lifts and ramps but I remember a lot of stairs so it may not be ideal. You could easily spend the whole day here but if you find yourself tiring after a few hours, head out through the arch into the Jardin des Tuileries, where you can grab a nice green chair and sit round the fountain (their park chairs are brilliant, no rotten benches, instead they had the novel idea of providing individual chairs that are actually comfortable). You shouldn't miss this if you are in Paris even if only for a weekend.
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Advantages: the biggest collection of art work in the world, including the Mona Lisa and Venus of Milo Disadvantages: too big to do everything in one day
dth999 23.10.2009 (25.10.2009)
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Review of Musée du Louvre
Sep 21st, 2001
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