Louvre

The Louvre is a museum in Paris. It has millions of visitors every year because of its art collection. It is the most visited art museum in the world.

Musee du Louvre

Established	10 August 1793; 231 years ago (1793-08-10)
Location	Musée du Louvre, 75001 Paris, France
Type	Art museum and historic site
Collection size	615,797 in 2019[1] (35,000 on display)[2]
Visitors	2.7 million (2020)[3] Ranked 1st nationally Ranked 1st globally in 2020
Director	Jean-Luc Martinez
Curator	Marie-Laure de Rochebrune
Public transit access	Palais Royal–Musée du Louvre Louvre–Rivoli
Website	www.louvre.fr

Statue in marble, about 190 BC. Found in Samothrace in 1863

The most famous piece of art in the Louvre is the Mona Lisa by Leonardo da Vinci. Other paintings include works of Rembrandt, Giambattista Pittoni, Caravaggio, Rubens, Titian and Eugène Delacroix.

There are also many statues inside the Louvre. The most famous statues are the Venus de Milo and the Winged Victory of Samothrace.

History of the Louvre

Philip II of France built a castle called the Castle of the Louvre. It used to be where the museum is. They used the castle as a fortress to defend Paris against the Vikings. Charles V, King of France turned the castle into a palace. However, Francis I, King of France, knocked it down and built a new palace.

Henry IV, King of France added the Grande Galerie to the Louvre. The Grande Galerie is more than a quarter of a mile long and one hundred feet wide. The Grande Galerie was built along the River Seine. It was the longest building in the world.

The building was renovated during François Mitterand's time as French President. The glass pyramid and the inverted pyramid (made famous by The Da Vinci Code, a novel and later a movie) were the work of architect I.M. Pei.