Louvre Museum

Louvre Museum

The “Mona Lisa” or “Giaconda” is one of the most, if not the most famous paintings of Leonardo Da Vinci, and this beautiful painting is located in the most famous museum of theworld, “Musée du Louvre” or The Louvre Museum. This museum is located in Paris, the capital of France.
The Louvre Palace which now houses the museum was started as a fortress by Phillip II Augustus, thefirst king of France from 1190 until his death in the year 1223. In the 14th century it was converted into a residence by Charles V also known as “The Wise”. It was Francis I who gained Leonardo DaVinci’s famous painting the “Mona Lisa” among other works of art who would later become the nucleus of the now Louvre Museum. During the French Revolution the Louvre was transformed into a publicmuseum. The museum opened its doors in August 10th 1793 with free admission on three days per week. The collection consisted of 537 paintings and 184 objects of art. In 1983 the French president FrancoisMitterrand proposed the “Grand Louvre” which was a plan with two phases; its purpose was to renovate the building. During the first phase architect Ieoh Ming Pei most know as “I. M. Pei” was awarded theproject and proposed a glass pyramid, which we see in the front of the building, the pyramid as well as an underground lobby were inaugurated on October 15th 1988, the second phase of the “GrandLouvre” plan consisted of an inverted pyramid which was completed in 1993.
The Louvre Museum contains more than 380,000 objects and displays 35,000 works of art in eight departments which add up to atotal of 60,600 square meters, it receives around 15,000 visitors per day most of them being foreign tourists. Some of the collections of the museum include Egyptian, Greek, Roman and other antiquities,Islamic art, famous sculptures including the “Dying Slave” made by Michelangelo as well as work by Romanesque and Raffaello Sanzio da Urbino most know as “Raphael” whose famous painting the “St...