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The Louvre really needs no introduction. It is interesting to note that it used to be the royal palace, and now it is the world’s largest museum. AT one point, it was a simple fortress. François I rebuilt this as a royal residence. Louis XIV kept it but had his Versailles built, where he resided with the court. But he would return to the Louvre residence while in Paris. It was the Revolutionaries that decided the royal collection of paintings and sculptures should be open to the public, so they put the collections in the palace. In the 1700s the Louvre served as a sort of homeless shelter, a filthy place with laundry hanging in the windows. Napoleon had the palace restored.
There are seven departments to the Louvre, many of them Antiquities. Of the Greek and Roman antiquities, most people are familiar with the Winged Victory and the Venus de Milo. Closeby, the most famous of the Louvre’s paintings is certainly La Gioconda, or the Mona Lisa. The Coronation of Napoleon by David is also a very well known painting in the Louvre.
If you only have a small amount of time to spend in the Louvre, decide what wing you want to spend it in and see only one part of the museum. It would be exhausting to try to see the whole thing, and it would literally take days. You will be back, so leave something for your next trip.
