Home to the Venus de Milo, the Mona Lisa and the Victory of Samothrace, the Musée du Louvre, located directly opposite the sumptuous Jardin des Tuileries, is a symbol of Paris and France. With over 8 million visitors from all over the world every year, it is the most visited museum in the world, but it still has its share of fascinating secrets. To visit the Louvre, it’s best to prepare in advance and arrive with all the information you need.
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What to expect on a visit
From the moment you enter, you’ll be amazed by the Louvre’ s iconic glass pyramid. Discover the treasures it has to offer and let yourself be seduced by the architecture of this royal palace, guardian of the history of art and civilization.
Exhibitions
With its permanent exhibitions, the Louvre lets you admire world-renowned works of art dating back to Mesopotamian, Egyptian and Greek antiquity. Marvel at the Venus de Milo, the Mona Lisa, the Seated Scribe and Veronese’s Marriage at Cana. The first exhibition contained 537 paintings, today the Louvre houses almost 35,000 objects from prehistory to the 21st century.
In 2023, the museum opened a tactile gallery, enabling the visually impaired to access details and information through reproductions of major works and statues. It’s also an opportunity for everyone to finally be able to touch the works of art, with no one there to take us away!
As Paris is hosting the Olympic Games this year, its emblematic museum had to take advantage of the occasion to offer you an exhibition worthy of the name. “Olympism, a modern invention” traces the origins of Olympism back to the ancient world.
When to go
As the world’s most visited museum, getting to the Louvre without a crowd of people is virtually impossible. However, certain times of the day are quieter than others. For a more leisurely visit, we recommend early mornings and weekdays.
Finding your way around the museum
The museum is organized by exhibition, located on different levels and wings of the building. With over 60,000m² of exhibits, we recommend you take along a map, either on paper(easily available at the exhibition entrances) or online, to avoid getting lost.
The Musée du Louvre is open every day from 9am to 6pm, except Tuesdays, when it’s closed. With this ticket, you’ll have access to the temporary and permanent exhibitions in less than 30 minutes(and considering the crowds, that’s not too much)! And if you’re still thirsty for art on your way out, your ticket includes entry to the Musée National Eugène Delacroix on the same day. Enter through the Pyramid and discover over 35,000 treasures.
Where and how to get to the Louvre
Located on the Place du Carrousel in Paris’s first arrondissement, opposite the Tuileries Gardens, the Louvre is served by a wide range of public transport.
By metro: “Palais Royal – Musée du Louvre” station, lines 1 or 7.
By bus: lines 21, 24, 27, 39, 48, 68, 69, 72, 81, 95.
What else can you do there?
The Domaine du Louvre includes the Carrousel and Tuileries gardens. These two areas offer visitors a wide range of walks and activities to take a breather or a break. Children can let off steam on the trampolines or have fun on the playground. And after solving a treasure hunt and saving the gardens, they can enjoy a hard-earned ride on the merry-go-round. For the grown-ups, you can sit on the terrace of one of the gardens’ restaurants and cafés and enjoy a drink, ice cream or grenadine after a stroll in the sunshine.
Another way to learn is to have fun! To find out more about French royalty, there’s nothing funnier than discovering the scandals! Ah yes, discover them on a guided tour with… unusual guides! The Marquise des Potins, the Comtesse des Commères and Clément l’archiduc des Quendiraton have their tongues firmly in their pockets, and are ready to tell you all about them.
The history of the Louvre
From fortress to museum
In the 12th century, the Louvre was a fortress protecting Paris from attack, but Charles V made it his royal residence, transforming it into a true château and thus marking the beginning of its function as a palace. Over the course of the reigns, it underwent numerous works and improvements, becoming a symbol of renaissance under François I, and officially becoming a museum in 1793. It served as a place to exhibit the nation’s masterpieces.
The Louvre Pyramid
In 1981, President François Mitterrand launched the “Grand Louvre” project to modernize the museum. The Pyramide du Louvre, now an integral part of the Palais, was designed by architect Ieoh Ming Pei and inaugurated in 1989. With its glass walls, it provides a shaft of light for the museum’s main entrance, without obscuring the historic architecture of the building’s façades.
An impressive flight
On August 21, 1911, Italian glassmaker Vincenzo Perrugia, who had installed the glass protecting the Mona Lisa, carried out the unthinkable. After hiding in a cupboard in the palace when the museum was closed, he emerged from his hiding place at around 7 a.m. to dismantle the famous glass and remove the painting, before going out like a simple visitor, painting under his clothes. Two years later, he was denounced when he tried to sell the painting in Florence. His motive: to take Leonardo Da Vinci ‘s famous painting back home to Italy.
The Musée du Louvre, which has protected its collections over time, is so large that it would take 100 days to visit it in its entirety. And spending just 30 seconds in each room. But the good news is that you can return several times and still be amazed. And if you really fall in love with the museum, you can now redecorate your home or wardrobe with their online boutique!