The Louvre Palace (French: Palais du Louvre), on the right bank of the Seine in Paris, is a former royal palace located between the Tuileries Gardens and the Church of Saint-Germain-l'Auxerrois in Paris. Its origins date back to the medieval period, and its current structure has evolved in stages from the century onwards.
The Louvre takes its name from the Frankish word leovar or leower, which meant fortified place, according to the French historian Henri Sauval (1623-1676). It was the royal seat of power in France, until Louis XIV moved to Versailles in 1682, forcibly taking the government with him; The Louvre was the formal seat of government until the end of the Ancien Régime in 1789. Since then it has housed the famous Louvre Museum as well as several government departments.
Description of the current palace
The complex
The current Louvre Palace is a complex of wings and pavilions on four main levels that, although appearing unified, is the result of many phases of construction, modification, destruction and restoration. The Palace is located on the right bank of the River Seine between the Rue de Rivoli to the north and the Quai Francois Mitterand (formerly the Quai du Louvre) to the south. To the west is the Tuileries Garden and, to the east, the Rue de l'Amiral de Coligney") with the Perrault Colonnade, its most architecturally famous façade, created by Claude Perrault) and the Place du Louvre. The complex occupies around 40 hectares (400,000 m²) and forms two large quadrilaterals enclosing two large courtyards: the Cour Carrée, finished with Napoléon I, and the larger Cour Napoléon"), with the Cour du Carrousel"), to the west, built by Napoléon III. The Cour Napoléon and the Cour du Carrousel are separated by the street called Place du Carrousel.
The Louvre complex can be divided between the "Old Louvre": the medieval and Renaissance pavilions and wings that surrounded the Cour Carrée, as well as the Grande Galerie ("Grand Gallery") that extended west along the bank of the Seine; and the "New Louvre": those century pavilions and wings that extended along the northern and southern sides of the Cour Napoléon along with its western extensions (north and south of the Cour du Carrousel) which were originally part of the long-defunct Tuileries Palace (Palace des Tuileries).
Louvre Palace
Introduction
The Louvre Palace (French: Palais du Louvre), on the right bank of the Seine in Paris, is a former royal palace located between the Tuileries Gardens and the Church of Saint-Germain-l'Auxerrois in Paris. Its origins date back to the medieval period, and its current structure has evolved in stages from the century onwards.
The Louvre takes its name from the Frankish word leovar or leower, which meant fortified place, according to the French historian Henri Sauval (1623-1676). It was the royal seat of power in France, until Louis XIV moved to Versailles in 1682, forcibly taking the government with him; The Louvre was the formal seat of government until the end of the Ancien Régime in 1789. Since then it has housed the famous Louvre Museum as well as several government departments.
Description of the current palace
The complex
The current Louvre Palace is a complex of wings and pavilions on four main levels that, although appearing unified, is the result of many phases of construction, modification, destruction and restoration. The Palace is located on the right bank of the River Seine between the Rue de Rivoli to the north and the Quai Francois Mitterand (formerly the Quai du Louvre) to the south. To the west is the Tuileries Garden and, to the east, the Rue de l'Amiral de Coligney") with the Perrault Colonnade, its most architecturally famous façade, created by Claude Perrault) and the Place du Louvre. The complex occupies around 40 hectares (400,000 m²) and forms two large quadrilaterals enclosing two large courtyards: the Cour Carrée, finished with Napoléon I, and the larger Cour Napoléon"), with the Cour du Carrousel"), to the west, built by Napoléon III. The Cour Napoléon and the Cour du Carrousel are separated by the street called Place du Carrousel.
The Louvre complex can be divided between the "Old Louvre": the medieval and Renaissance pavilions and wings that surrounded the Cour Carrée, as well as the Grande Galerie ("Grand Gallery") that extended west along the bank of the Seine; and the "New Louvre": those century pavilions and wings that extended along the northern and southern sides of the Cour Napoléon along with its western extensions (north and south of the Cour du Carrousel) which were originally part of the long-defunct Tuileries Palace (Palace des Tuileries).
Around 51,615 m² in the palace complex are dedicated to exhibition space. The complex is so vast that one can visit it every day for a week and still not be able to take a simple look at what is on display.
The "Old Louvre"
The Old Louvre occupies the site of King Philip Augustus' century fortress, also called the Louvre. Its foundations can be seen on the lower level as the "medieval Louvre" department. This structure was razed in 1546 by King Francis I in favor of a larger royal residence which was added to by almost every subsequent French monarch. King Louis XIV, who resided in the Louvre until it was abandoned in favor of Versailles in 1678, completed the Cour Carrée, which was closed off from the city side by a colonnade. The Old Louvre is a quadrilateral of approximately 160 meters on one side consisting of 8 ailes (wings) that are articulated by 8 pavillons (pavilions). Starting from the northwest corner and moving clockwise, the pavilions consist of the following: Pavillon de Beauvais"), Pavillon de Marengo"), Northeast Pavilion, Central Pavilion, Southeast Pavilion, Pavillon des Arts"), Pavillon du Roi, and Pavillon Sully") (formerly, Pavillon de l’Horloge). Between the Pavillon du Roi and the Pavillon Sully is the Aile Lescot: built between 1546 and 1551, it is the oldest part of the visible external elevations and was important in setting the mold for later French architectural classicism. Between the Pavillon Sully and the Pavillon de Beauvais is the Aile Lemercier ("Lemercier Wing"): built in 1639 by Louis XIII and Cardinal Richelieu, it is a symmetrical extension of the Lescot wing in the same Renaissance style. With it, the last external vestiges of the medieval Louvre were demolished.
The "New Louvre"
The "New Louvre" is the name often given to the pavilions and wings that extend the Palace for around 500 meters to the west on the northern (Napoléon I and Napoleon III) and southern (Napoléon III) sides of the Cour Napoléon and Cour du Carrousel. It was Napoleon III who finally connected the Tuileries Palace to the Louvre in the 1850s, finally achieving the Grand Dessein ("Grand Design") originally envisioned by Henry IV in the 19th century. This consummation only lasted a few years, however, as the Tuileries were burned down in 1871 and finally completely razed to the ground in 1882.
The northern member of the new Louvre is formed by (from east to west) three large pavilions along the Rue de Rivoli: Pavillon de la Bibliotheque"), Pavillon de Rohan") and Pavillon de Marsan"). These pavilions and their wings define three secondary courtyards, from east to west: Cour Khorsabad"), Cour Puget") and Cour Marly").
The southern side of the New Louvre consists (from east to west) of five large pavilions along the Quai Francois Mitterand (and the bank of the Seine): the Pavillon de la Lesdiguieres"), Pavillon des Sessions"), Pavillon de la Tremoille"), Pavillon des Etats") and Pavillon de Flore. As on the northern side, three interior pavilions (interior side): Pavillon Daru"), Pavillon Denon") and Pavillon Mollien") and their wings define three more subsidiary courtyards: Cour du Sphinx"), Cour Viconti") and Cour Lefuel").
For the sake of simplicity, on the museum's tourist maps, the north arm of the "New Louvre", the south side of it and the "Old Louvre" are called the "Richelieu Wing", the "Denon Wing" and the "Sully Wing", respectively. This allows the casual visitor to avoid (to some extent) getting totally lost in the confusing array of wing and pavilion names.
The Pavillon de Flore and the Pavillon de Marsan, at the westernmost end of the Palace (south and north arms, respectively), were destroyed when the Third Republic razed the neighboring Tuileries, but were subsequently restored beginning in 1874. The Flore then served as the model for the renovation of the Marsan.
A vast underground complex of offices, shops, exhibition spaces, storage and parking areas, as well as an auditorium, a tourist bus terminal and a café, were built beneath the Louvre's central courtyards of the Cour Napoléon and the Cour du Carrousel for Francois Mitterand's "Grand Louvre" project (1981-2002). The ground-level entrance to this complex was located in the center of the Cour Napoléon and is covered by the notable iron and glass pyramid (1989) designed by the American architect I.M. Pei.
History
Medieval period
The Louvre Palace was originally built as a fortress, built in the century by King Philip Augustus along with the city's first wall enclosure to defend the banks of the Seine River against invaders from the north.[1] The fortress had in its center a cylindrical tower: the Donjon, or Tower of Homage. Archaeological discoveries from the original fortress are currently part of the Louvre Medieval exhibition in the Sully wing of the museum.
The fortress of Philip Augustus of 1190 was not a royal residence but an arsenal of significant size comprising a moated quadrilateral (78 by 72 metres) with rounded bastions at each corner, and in the center of the northern and western walls. Defensive towers flanked by narrow gates on the southern and eastern walls. In the center of this complex there was a keep, the Grosse Tour (15 meters in diameter and 30 m high). Two interior buildings adjoined the exterior walls on the western and southern sides.[2].
The Louvre was frequently renovated throughout the Middle Ages. Under Louis IX in the mid-1200s, the Louvre became the seat of the royal treasury. The castle soon had a double function: in addition to its protective role, it became one of the residences of the king and the court, along with the Château de Vincennes, the Hotel Saint-Pol in the Marais and the palace on the Île de la Cité.
The fortress was expanded and embellished in the century by Charles V, making it the most famous royal residence in Europe of its time. Charles V began the expansion of the Louvre in 1358, but his work was ruined during the Hundred Years' War and demolished in the 1500s by Francis I, to make way for a new structure built in the Renaissance style.[1].
Renaissance period
Beginning in 1546, after returning from captivity in Spain, King Francis I of France employed architect Pierre Lescot and sculptor Jean Goujon to remove the keep and modernize the Louvre into a Renaissance-style palace. Lescot had previously worked on the castles of the Loire Valley and was adopted as the project's architect. The new one was formed by a square patio, with the main wing separated by a central staircase, and the two wings on the sides included a floor. Lescot added a ceiling to King Henry II's bedroom (Pavillon du Roi) that departed from the usual beamed style, and installed the Salle des Caryatides, which featured sculpted caryatids based on Greek and Roman works.[5] Art historian Anthony Blunt refers to Lescot's work "as a form of French classicism, having its own principles and its own harmony."[5] Francis acquired what would become the core. of the contents of the Louvre; His acquisitions included Leonardo da Vinci's Mona Lisa.[6].
The death of Francis I in 1547, however, interrupted the project to make the Louvre a royal residence. The architect Androuet du Cerceau also worked on the Louvre.[7].
It was Queen Catherine de' Medici who outlined the project to make the Louvre a great palace. In 1564 Catherine directed the construction of a palace to the west called the Tuileries Palace, facing the Louvre and the surrounding gardens.[3] The Palace closed the western end of the Louvre courtyard. Catherine then undertook the restoration of the entire palace. His architect Philibert de l'Orme began the project, and was replaced after his death in 1570 by Jean Bullant.
Bourbon Dynasty and later
Catherine de' Medici's work was continued by Henry IV after the religious wars that ended in 1589. During his reign (1589-1610), he began his "Grand Design" to remove the remains of the medieval fortress, to expand the Cour Carrée area, and to create a link between the Tuileries Palace and the Louvre. The union was completed through the Grande Galerie by the architects Jacques Androuet de Cerceau and Louis Métezeau").[8].
More than 400 meters long and 30 meters wide, this large addition was built along the bank of the Seine. Henry IV, a promoter of the arts, invited hundreds of artists and craftsmen to live and work on the lower floors of the building. This tradition continued for another two hundred years until Napoleon III ended it.
In the early 1600s, Louis
The Richelieu wing was also built by Louis XIII, the building was first opened to the public as a museum on November 8, 1793 during the French Revolution.[1] Louis
In 1659, Louis Le Nôtre redesigned the Tuileries garden in French style, which had been created in 1564 by Catherine de' Medici in Italian style; and Le Brun decorated the Galerie d'Apollon. A committee of architects proposed Perrault's Colonnade; The building was started in 1668 but was not finished until the 19th century.[8][10].
Commissioned by Louis Its severe design was chosen instead of a design provided by the great Italian architect Bernini, who had traveled to Paris specifically to work on the Louvre. Perrault had translated the Roman architect Vitruvius into French. Now Perrault's rhythmically paired "Column (architecture)") columns formed a shadowed colonnade with a pedimented triumphal arch entrance "Fronton (architecture)") raised on a high, rather defensive base, in an Italian Baroque style that has provided models for great buildings in Europe and the United States for centuries. The Metropolitan Museum in New York City, for example, reflects the design of Perrault's Louvre.
The construction of the Palace of Versailles, accelerated under the reign of Louis Annual exhibitions of the Royal Academy of Painting and Sculpture were held there.
After the French Revolution, which led to the abolition of the monarchy, the Louvre palace was designated (by decree of May 1791) for artistic and scientific functions, with the crown's collections concentrating there the following year. Part of the Louvre was first opened to the public as a museum on November 8, 1793. This was a logical solution, given that it was occupied by the academies and because, as early as 1778, the project to use its Grand Gallery as an art gallery had been drawn up. The novelty of the measure was that real property assets were nationalized, and that access was free since it was not limited to the educated public nor was it regulated by arranged visits, as was the case in the Uffizi and the Prado Museum during their first years.
• - This work contains a translation derived from "Palais du Louvre" from English Wikipedia, published by its editors under the GNU Free Documentation License and the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.
• - Wikimedia Commons hosts a multimedia category on Louvre Palace.
• - Ministry of Culture database on the Louvre (in French).
• - Photos at the Ministry of Culture.
• - A virtual visit to the Louvre.
• - Panoramic view of the pyramid and the Cour Napoléon Archived July 22, 2009 at the Wayback Machine.
Around 51,615 m² in the palace complex are dedicated to exhibition space. The complex is so vast that one can visit it every day for a week and still not be able to take a simple look at what is on display.
The "Old Louvre"
The Old Louvre occupies the site of King Philip Augustus' century fortress, also called the Louvre. Its foundations can be seen on the lower level as the "medieval Louvre" department. This structure was razed in 1546 by King Francis I in favor of a larger royal residence which was added to by almost every subsequent French monarch. King Louis XIV, who resided in the Louvre until it was abandoned in favor of Versailles in 1678, completed the Cour Carrée, which was closed off from the city side by a colonnade. The Old Louvre is a quadrilateral of approximately 160 meters on one side consisting of 8 ailes (wings) that are articulated by 8 pavillons (pavilions). Starting from the northwest corner and moving clockwise, the pavilions consist of the following: Pavillon de Beauvais"), Pavillon de Marengo"), Northeast Pavilion, Central Pavilion, Southeast Pavilion, Pavillon des Arts"), Pavillon du Roi, and Pavillon Sully") (formerly, Pavillon de l’Horloge). Between the Pavillon du Roi and the Pavillon Sully is the Aile Lescot: built between 1546 and 1551, it is the oldest part of the visible external elevations and was important in setting the mold for later French architectural classicism. Between the Pavillon Sully and the Pavillon de Beauvais is the Aile Lemercier ("Lemercier Wing"): built in 1639 by Louis XIII and Cardinal Richelieu, it is a symmetrical extension of the Lescot wing in the same Renaissance style. With it, the last external vestiges of the medieval Louvre were demolished.
The "New Louvre"
The "New Louvre" is the name often given to the pavilions and wings that extend the Palace for around 500 meters to the west on the northern (Napoléon I and Napoleon III) and southern (Napoléon III) sides of the Cour Napoléon and Cour du Carrousel. It was Napoleon III who finally connected the Tuileries Palace to the Louvre in the 1850s, finally achieving the Grand Dessein ("Grand Design") originally envisioned by Henry IV in the 19th century. This consummation only lasted a few years, however, as the Tuileries were burned down in 1871 and finally completely razed to the ground in 1882.
The northern member of the new Louvre is formed by (from east to west) three large pavilions along the Rue de Rivoli: Pavillon de la Bibliotheque"), Pavillon de Rohan") and Pavillon de Marsan"). These pavilions and their wings define three secondary courtyards, from east to west: Cour Khorsabad"), Cour Puget") and Cour Marly").
The southern side of the New Louvre consists (from east to west) of five large pavilions along the Quai Francois Mitterand (and the bank of the Seine): the Pavillon de la Lesdiguieres"), Pavillon des Sessions"), Pavillon de la Tremoille"), Pavillon des Etats") and Pavillon de Flore. As on the northern side, three interior pavilions (interior side): Pavillon Daru"), Pavillon Denon") and Pavillon Mollien") and their wings define three more subsidiary courtyards: Cour du Sphinx"), Cour Viconti") and Cour Lefuel").
For the sake of simplicity, on the museum's tourist maps, the north arm of the "New Louvre", the south side of it and the "Old Louvre" are called the "Richelieu Wing", the "Denon Wing" and the "Sully Wing", respectively. This allows the casual visitor to avoid (to some extent) getting totally lost in the confusing array of wing and pavilion names.
The Pavillon de Flore and the Pavillon de Marsan, at the westernmost end of the Palace (south and north arms, respectively), were destroyed when the Third Republic razed the neighboring Tuileries, but were subsequently restored beginning in 1874. The Flore then served as the model for the renovation of the Marsan.
A vast underground complex of offices, shops, exhibition spaces, storage and parking areas, as well as an auditorium, a tourist bus terminal and a café, were built beneath the Louvre's central courtyards of the Cour Napoléon and the Cour du Carrousel for Francois Mitterand's "Grand Louvre" project (1981-2002). The ground-level entrance to this complex was located in the center of the Cour Napoléon and is covered by the notable iron and glass pyramid (1989) designed by the American architect I.M. Pei.
History
Medieval period
The Louvre Palace was originally built as a fortress, built in the century by King Philip Augustus along with the city's first wall enclosure to defend the banks of the Seine River against invaders from the north.[1] The fortress had in its center a cylindrical tower: the Donjon, or Tower of Homage. Archaeological discoveries from the original fortress are currently part of the Louvre Medieval exhibition in the Sully wing of the museum.
The fortress of Philip Augustus of 1190 was not a royal residence but an arsenal of significant size comprising a moated quadrilateral (78 by 72 metres) with rounded bastions at each corner, and in the center of the northern and western walls. Defensive towers flanked by narrow gates on the southern and eastern walls. In the center of this complex there was a keep, the Grosse Tour (15 meters in diameter and 30 m high). Two interior buildings adjoined the exterior walls on the western and southern sides.[2].
The Louvre was frequently renovated throughout the Middle Ages. Under Louis IX in the mid-1200s, the Louvre became the seat of the royal treasury. The castle soon had a double function: in addition to its protective role, it became one of the residences of the king and the court, along with the Château de Vincennes, the Hotel Saint-Pol in the Marais and the palace on the Île de la Cité.
The fortress was expanded and embellished in the century by Charles V, making it the most famous royal residence in Europe of its time. Charles V began the expansion of the Louvre in 1358, but his work was ruined during the Hundred Years' War and demolished in the 1500s by Francis I, to make way for a new structure built in the Renaissance style.[1].
Renaissance period
Beginning in 1546, after returning from captivity in Spain, King Francis I of France employed architect Pierre Lescot and sculptor Jean Goujon to remove the keep and modernize the Louvre into a Renaissance-style palace. Lescot had previously worked on the castles of the Loire Valley and was adopted as the project's architect. The new one was formed by a square patio, with the main wing separated by a central staircase, and the two wings on the sides included a floor. Lescot added a ceiling to King Henry II's bedroom (Pavillon du Roi) that departed from the usual beamed style, and installed the Salle des Caryatides, which featured sculpted caryatids based on Greek and Roman works.[5] Art historian Anthony Blunt refers to Lescot's work "as a form of French classicism, having its own principles and its own harmony."[5] Francis acquired what would become the core. of the contents of the Louvre; His acquisitions included Leonardo da Vinci's Mona Lisa.[6].
The death of Francis I in 1547, however, interrupted the project to make the Louvre a royal residence. The architect Androuet du Cerceau also worked on the Louvre.[7].
It was Queen Catherine de' Medici who outlined the project to make the Louvre a great palace. In 1564 Catherine directed the construction of a palace to the west called the Tuileries Palace, facing the Louvre and the surrounding gardens.[3] The Palace closed the western end of the Louvre courtyard. Catherine then undertook the restoration of the entire palace. His architect Philibert de l'Orme began the project, and was replaced after his death in 1570 by Jean Bullant.
Bourbon Dynasty and later
Catherine de' Medici's work was continued by Henry IV after the religious wars that ended in 1589. During his reign (1589-1610), he began his "Grand Design" to remove the remains of the medieval fortress, to expand the Cour Carrée area, and to create a link between the Tuileries Palace and the Louvre. The union was completed through the Grande Galerie by the architects Jacques Androuet de Cerceau and Louis Métezeau").[8].
More than 400 meters long and 30 meters wide, this large addition was built along the bank of the Seine. Henry IV, a promoter of the arts, invited hundreds of artists and craftsmen to live and work on the lower floors of the building. This tradition continued for another two hundred years until Napoleon III ended it.
In the early 1600s, Louis
The Richelieu wing was also built by Louis XIII, the building was first opened to the public as a museum on November 8, 1793 during the French Revolution.[1] Louis
In 1659, Louis Le Nôtre redesigned the Tuileries garden in French style, which had been created in 1564 by Catherine de' Medici in Italian style; and Le Brun decorated the Galerie d'Apollon. A committee of architects proposed Perrault's Colonnade; The building was started in 1668 but was not finished until the 19th century.[8][10].
Commissioned by Louis Its severe design was chosen instead of a design provided by the great Italian architect Bernini, who had traveled to Paris specifically to work on the Louvre. Perrault had translated the Roman architect Vitruvius into French. Now Perrault's rhythmically paired "Column (architecture)") columns formed a shadowed colonnade with a pedimented triumphal arch entrance "Fronton (architecture)") raised on a high, rather defensive base, in an Italian Baroque style that has provided models for great buildings in Europe and the United States for centuries. The Metropolitan Museum in New York City, for example, reflects the design of Perrault's Louvre.
The construction of the Palace of Versailles, accelerated under the reign of Louis Annual exhibitions of the Royal Academy of Painting and Sculpture were held there.
After the French Revolution, which led to the abolition of the monarchy, the Louvre palace was designated (by decree of May 1791) for artistic and scientific functions, with the crown's collections concentrating there the following year. Part of the Louvre was first opened to the public as a museum on November 8, 1793. This was a logical solution, given that it was occupied by the academies and because, as early as 1778, the project to use its Grand Gallery as an art gallery had been drawn up. The novelty of the measure was that real property assets were nationalized, and that access was free since it was not limited to the educated public nor was it regulated by arranged visits, as was the case in the Uffizi and the Prado Museum during their first years.
• - This work contains a translation derived from "Palais du Louvre" from English Wikipedia, published by its editors under the GNU Free Documentation License and the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.
• - Wikimedia Commons hosts a multimedia category on Louvre Palace.
• - Ministry of Culture database on the Louvre (in French).
• - Photos at the Ministry of Culture.
• - A virtual visit to the Louvre.
• - Panoramic view of the pyramid and the Cour Napoléon Archived July 22, 2009 at the Wayback Machine.
In 1806, construction began on the Arc de Triomphe du Carrousel, located between the two western wings, commissioned by Emperor Napoleon I to commemorate his military victories, designed by architect Charles Percier, crowned by a quadriga sculpted by Baron François Joseph Bosio, and completed in 1808.
The Louvre even had more additions by Napoleon III. The new wing of 1852-1857, by architects Louis Visconti and Hector Lefuel, represents the Second Empire version of neo-baroque, full of details and covered in sculptures.
The Louvre building was joined to the Tuileries Palace (the correct translation is Tejerías Palace) forming a single complex until 1871, when the latter was destroyed in the events of the Paris Commune. The western end of the Louvre courtyard has remained open since then, forming the Court of Honour. The artistic treasures of the Tuileries were lost in the fire of the palace, whose ruins were demolished. The continued beautification and expansion of the Louvre continued throughout 1876.
The current Louvre Palace is an almost rectangular structure, composed of the Square Court (the Cour Carrée) and two wings that surround the Cour Napoléon to the north and south. At the heart of this complex is the Louvre Pyramid, above the visitor center. The museum is divided into three wings: the Sully Wing to the east, which contains the Cour Carrée and the oldest parts of the Louvre; the Ala Richelieu to the north and the Ala Denon which borders the Seine to the south.
The enormous museum, whose rooms and corridors mark a route of several kilometers, underwent an ambitious modernization in the 1980s. In 1983, French President François Mitterrand proposed the Grand Louvre plan to renovate the building and move the Ministry of Finance outside, allowing exhibitions throughout the building. Its most visible element was the glass pyramid. It was designed by the architect Ieoh Ming Pei and inaugurated on October 15, 1988 to centralize the access of visitors, who descend through it to an underground hall through which they access the various wings of the museum. Controversial at first, it has become a Parisian architectural monument. The second phase of the Grand Louvre plan, La Pyramide Inversée") (The Inverted Pyramid), was completed in 1993. By 2002, the number of visitors had doubled from the previous time.
Despite such modernization, several sectors of the Louvre were still occupied by public organizations, and have only recently been vacated and adapted as exhibition rooms. In March 2004 the opening of a new wing dedicated to the art of Islam was announced. An international competition was held for its design in 2005. It was inaugurated in 2008, with an investment of 50 million euros.
In 1806, construction began on the Arc de Triomphe du Carrousel, located between the two western wings, commissioned by Emperor Napoleon I to commemorate his military victories, designed by architect Charles Percier, crowned by a quadriga sculpted by Baron François Joseph Bosio, and completed in 1808.
The Louvre even had more additions by Napoleon III. The new wing of 1852-1857, by architects Louis Visconti and Hector Lefuel, represents the Second Empire version of neo-baroque, full of details and covered in sculptures.
The Louvre building was joined to the Tuileries Palace (the correct translation is Tejerías Palace) forming a single complex until 1871, when the latter was destroyed in the events of the Paris Commune. The western end of the Louvre courtyard has remained open since then, forming the Court of Honour. The artistic treasures of the Tuileries were lost in the fire of the palace, whose ruins were demolished. The continued beautification and expansion of the Louvre continued throughout 1876.
The current Louvre Palace is an almost rectangular structure, composed of the Square Court (the Cour Carrée) and two wings that surround the Cour Napoléon to the north and south. At the heart of this complex is the Louvre Pyramid, above the visitor center. The museum is divided into three wings: the Sully Wing to the east, which contains the Cour Carrée and the oldest parts of the Louvre; the Ala Richelieu to the north and the Ala Denon which borders the Seine to the south.
The enormous museum, whose rooms and corridors mark a route of several kilometers, underwent an ambitious modernization in the 1980s. In 1983, French President François Mitterrand proposed the Grand Louvre plan to renovate the building and move the Ministry of Finance outside, allowing exhibitions throughout the building. Its most visible element was the glass pyramid. It was designed by the architect Ieoh Ming Pei and inaugurated on October 15, 1988 to centralize the access of visitors, who descend through it to an underground hall through which they access the various wings of the museum. Controversial at first, it has become a Parisian architectural monument. The second phase of the Grand Louvre plan, La Pyramide Inversée") (The Inverted Pyramid), was completed in 1993. By 2002, the number of visitors had doubled from the previous time.
Despite such modernization, several sectors of the Louvre were still occupied by public organizations, and have only recently been vacated and adapted as exhibition rooms. In March 2004 the opening of a new wing dedicated to the art of Islam was announced. An international competition was held for its design in 2005. It was inaugurated in 2008, with an investment of 50 million euros.