The Musée du Louvre and other Paris, France Things to Do Tips

The Louvre is one of the richest museums in the world and exists for over 800 years. Al the rulers of Paris and France let their marks behind by expanding the museum and its collection.

The building originally was a fortress, that goes back to 1190. It wasn´t until 1400 when the fortress changed from prison into royal residence. In this time the gardens were expended by large cages with wild animals and birds.

Until this time the building stood at the border of the city, functioning as citywall. When the walls were moved outside the Louvre, King Charles V moved in and made the plans to make something beautiful of the building.

In 1415 France was captured by the English who made the Louvre into a ruine. A lot of original pieces were spread all over Europe. In wasn´t until 1527 when Francis I desided to throw down the ruine of the building and to start all over again. The new royal residence didn´t have to show power but wealth.

In 1546 the construction of the current Louvre started. Every king coming after Francis I had his own vision on the building, so the construction was lenghtened several times and finally took 300 years.

When the Louvre was finally completed, Louis XIV moved to Versailles and the palace was forgotten once again. After the French Revolution the Louvre became loved again and it was turned into a public museum. Art was no longer only for the richest in the society. In the 19th century many artists sponsored the museum costless.

Caused by the enormous amount of artpieces coming into the Louvre, the museum had to expand. Napoleon ordered to renovate the exterior and interior of the Louvre and to build two sidewings. The palace de Tuileries, standing behind the old palace was destroyed by a fire and in its place the Jardins de Tuileries were made. In this shape the palace stayed for years, until finally the glass piramide was build in 1989, to be the new entrance to the museum.

The Louvre is a unique museum, that you cannot miss in a visit to the city. Whether you like art or not!

Leave a Comment

Address: Metro: Palais Royal-Louvre, line 1
Directions: Open at monday and wednesday from 09.00 - 21.45.
Thursday till sunday from 09.00 - 18.00.
Closed at tuesdays.

Entrancefee: € 8,50. Children under 18 for free.
Website: www.louvre.fr/louvrea.htm

In 1989 the new entrance of the Louvre was opened. A glass pyramide that was built on the central square now was the new mainentrance of the museum. Lots of people think it?s a disgrace that such an old environment is poluted by such a modern piece of architecture. Personnally, I love the way they combined old and new.

The pyramide was a small piece of huge renovations in and around the museum, that had as purpose to make the Louvre the biggest collection of art in the world. The basements were packed with pieces of art that couldn?t be shown, so there had to be found a way to make that possible. Another reason was that there was no decent entrance to such a rich museum.

In 1981, the Ministery of Finance left its office in the Louvre. This was the start of a huge plan to give the museum more status. They started with renovating the Big Line from the Arc de Triomphe towards the Louvre. The Avenue Gen. Lemonnier was replaced into a tunnel and the central square of the Louvre was renovated.

Architect Pei came up with the idea to make a huge basement under the central square and make this as an entrance. This would be an example of lightning from above and would create a lot of space, because all of the 40 old entrances could disappear.

This idea was made reality, by building one big pyramide and two small ones. The biggest one is 21 metres high, and is surrounded by 7 small ponds to make it look even more spacious. Nowadays the pyramide welcomes over 20.000 people every day.

Leave a Comment

The small Arc de Triomphe du Carroussel is the oldest arch in the line of three of Paris. It was built in order of Napoleon (who else), because of his triomphs in 1805.

Originally the Arc was a part of the palace of Tuileries that burned to the ground in 1871. After that the gardens were transformed into public area, and the Arc de Tiomphe du Carroussel became more well-known.

On top of this tacky arch, with multi-coloured marble, you´ll see a four-in-hand with the Goddess of Peace leading. This piece of art was added in 1828.

Leave a Comment

Address: Place du Louvre
Directions: Metro: Tuileries,Concorde, Louvre-Rivoli
Website: http://www.louvre.fr

Behind the Louvre, right behind the Arc de Triomphe du Carroussel, you´ll find a huge parc called Jardins (gardens) des Tuileries. This is one of the oldest public parcs of the city, and also one of the nicests. This used to be the royal garden belonging to the inhabitants of the Louvre, but after the leaders of France left the Louvre and moved towards Versailles, the gardens were transformed into public area.

The gardens are a perfect example of France gardening: lots of symmetry, straight lines and geometrical shapes. In the centre of the parc there are two round ponds that really are the centre of the happening. Little boats are rented for children and the people of Paris come here to read their newspaper and to enjoy the sun.

From the Jardins des Tuileries you have a magnificent view all over Paris: the Louvre, Champs-Elysees, Arc de Triomphe, Eiffel Tower, Place de la Concorde, and so on.

In summertime there is a fairground at the northside of the parc, with a huge ferris wheel as major attraction.

Leave a Comment

Address: Place du Louvre
Directions: Metro: Tuileries,Concorde
Website: http://www.louvre.fr

This wonderful piece of architecture (according to me this is one of the nicest squares in Paris) was built in the time of Louis XIV. Here the house was located of the Duke of Vendome. It originally was built to make the statue of Louis XIV look more impressive. Building it took from 1687 until 1720. The statue of Louis XIV was destroyed during the French Revolution.

This octogonal square is surrounded by buildings with pillars at the ground floor, with walls on top of them, covered by the typical steep, Paris-roofs. In the middle of the square there is a huge pillar that was made by Gongouin and Lepère, between 1806 and 1810. It is an sign of honour to Napeléon.

Today, the famous hotel Ritz is situated at this square, and so are some famous jewelry shops.

Leave a Comment

Address: Place Vendome
Directions: Metro: Opéra

At the centre of Place Vendome you´ll find a magnificent pillar. This pillar is obviously inspired by the Pillar of Traian in Rome. It has an height of 43,5 metres. Around the pillar, there is a sculpture as a comicbook, showing Napoleon´s greatest victories. This sculpture was made out of the bronze of 1.200 canons that were taken out of Austerlitz.

On top of this pillar there was placed a statue of Napoleon, looking like Caesar. He was very proud of the fact that he conquered the famous Rome, so he loved to be shown as a Roman emperor. This statue was destroyed in 1814 and was replaced by a statue of Henry IV. In 1874, a copy of the original statue was placed back on top of the pillar.

Leave a Comment

Address: Place Vendome

Right behind the Louvre museum, at the Rue de Rivoli, you will find a large building with a lot of French flags. This is the Palais Royal, Royal Palace. This palace was built in the beginning of the 17th century, in order of the famous Cardinal Richelieu, an important advisor of the former King Louis XIII. This is why the first name of the palace was Palais-Cardinal. The building became an important and innovative theatre for the "rich and famous".

After Richelieu died, the building became Royal property and the name changed into Palais Royal. In this period the famous Molière used this theatre for his performances, until the year 1673, when he died. After this period the building burned down twice, but was rebuilt in the same style every time.

Today the building is not open for public: it's the office of the French Ministery of Culture. The famous gardens behind the mainbuilding are opened though.

Leave a Comment

Address: Rue de Rivoli
Directions: Metro-line 1: Palais-Royal/Musée du Louvre

Right behind the Palais Royal, hidden in a peaceful innersquare, you can visit the Jardin du Palais Royal, Garden of the Royal Palace.

While the mainbuilding of the Palacewas built in the 17th century, the arcades and apartments around the garden were built later in the 18th century. They used to shelter guests of the theatre, but today they are the base of several giftshops and little bars.

At sunny days, lots of Parisians come here to relax, read a book, play a game or to play with the children. This makes that it can be very crowded and noisy with people here, but nevertheless it is a very nice place to visit.

The back of the gardens have perfectly cut trees and colourful flowersbeds, a few old fountains and some benches to sit and relax. The front of the area though, is much more modern. In the 80's some modern pieces of art were added here like the fountain with big metal balls, and a square full of little black-and-white columns. This is the area where the children like to play, and where it is the most hectic when the weather is good.

Leave a Comment

Address: Rue de Rivoli
Directions: When you stand in front of the Palais Royal, pass the building on its leftside and enter the square through a small arch. You can also enter is from the north end of the garden.

Writer Emile Zola used to call Les Halles the “Belly of Paris”. More then 800 years ago, in the 12th century, there was built a fully roofed market hall. Throughout the centuries the market developed into the ultimate centre of food for Paris. In the 19th century the market had become so rich, that Napoleon III decided that it deserved a new, more solid building. Completely like the leading construction style of that moment, the new market halls were made out of iron. A total of 12 halls were built were the salesmen did their work.

After de Second World War the Halles were more and more becoming old fashioned. Not according to their looks, but according to their location and their surface. That why in 1969 the market function was transferred to a new area close to the airport Orly, at the south of Paris. To make a new function possible, the old Halles were broken down in the beginning of the 70´s to make place for a modern shopping centre: Forum Les Halles. This was a project of prestige by the president Gescard-d´Estaing.

The new Forum Les Halles also had iron and glass as leading construction materials. Coming from a central square, the countless shops make a stairs-shape all the way up, with four levels. This way it´s a very spacious building, that also is decorated by many statues and other pieces of modern art.

Leave a Comment

Address: Metro: Chatelet, Les Halles
Directions: Metro: Les Halles

Centre d’Art et de Culture Georges Pompidou is the official name of this very extraordinaire building in the centre of Paris. It´s situated at less then 1 km from the Louvre and the Notre Dame, at the edge of a medieval quarter. In the sixties, this quarter was going down. Poverty and criminality became a problem here. To solve this problem an cultural and commercial impulse was given by the city of Paris.

First the Forum les Halles was improved to take care of the commercial impulse. Later the plan of the Centre Pompidou was made.

The building was designed by the Italian architects Gian Franco Franchini and Renzo Piano, and Richard Rogers from Engeland. The building is completely made of steel and galss, because the architects thought the beauty of construction was nothing to be ashamed of. Together with the colours (for every item in the construction a different colour) it´s a big difference with the rest a the quarter.

The Centre Pompidou immediately was a point of discussion among the people of Paris. President Georges Pompidou liked modern architecture, but a lot of others liked it absolutely not. Today the building is accepted and is an important tourist attraction.

At the 4th floor there is an exhibition area for modern art, like Matisse, Picasso, Mondriaan, Dali, Arman Christo and Warhol. The 3th floor has a collection of art from the period 1965 - 1985. At the topfloor the is a restaurant that provides you a magnificent view of Paris.

Leave a Comment

Directions: Metro: Les Halles, line 4.

RER: Chateles Les Halles, Line A