Musée du Louvre
PARIS, FRANCE
No other museum in the world can conjure up the quintessential definition of “museum” quite like the famous Louvre located in central Paris. Following a royal edict to provide illuminating examples of fine art to inspire future artists, the massive stone, steel, and glass building complex opened in 1793 and houses an encyclopedic collection admired the world over. Nearly 6 million visitors—including aspiring and established artists alike—flock to the Louvre every year, many attracted to the “Big Three:” The Venus de Milo, the Victory of Samothrace, and Leonardo da Vinci’s Mona Lisa. Since the museum’s vastness can intimidate even the experienced art aficionado, the visitor center provides a map (in several languages) and a key to the most popular rooms and art works.
Statue of Aphrodite of Melos (Venus de Milo) in the Louvre Museum, Paris.
Even the museum’s website provides an exhaustive treasure trove of information: It offers a number of thematic trails, based on a certain period or artistic movement, designed to give an overview of the scope and richness of the museum’s collections. Each trail is based on a selection of works that typify a period, an artistic movement, or a theme. The trails are organized thematically; titles include “Calligraphy in Islamic Art,” “Masterpieces of the Louvre,” and even a tour devoted to exploring the facts and fiction of The Da Vinci Code, the popular novel that draws its myriad themes and settings from the museum and its collection. Outside the gallery walls, more delights await; walking through the open-air Jardins des Tuileries provides a brief respite from the eventual “art fatigue” even the most diehard museum visitor cannot avoid! —SBR
The I.M. Pei–designed glass Pyramid in front of the traditional Louvre Museum buildings.