Louvre (French: Mus é e du Louvre). Located in the north bank of the Seine River in the center of Paris, France, it ranks first among the four major museums in the world. Founded in 1204, it was originally the palace of France, where 50 French kings and queens lived. It is one of the most valuable buildings in the French classical period, and is famous for its rich collection of classical paintings and sculptures.
It is now the Louvre Museum, covering an area of about 198 hectares, which is divided into new and old parts. The pyramid shaped glass entrance in front of the museum covers an area of 24 hectares, and was designed by Chinese architect I.M. Pei. On August 10, 1793, the Louvre Museum of Art officially opened as a museum. The Louvre has become a world famous art palace, one of the largest art treasure houses, and a world-famous palace of treasures.
On May 26, 2021, French President Marc Long appointed 54 year old Lawrence Decas as the new curator of the Louvre.

The Louvre is one of the four largest museums in the world. It was built in 1204, when it was just the castle of Philip Auguste II's palace. The palace is famous for its rich collection of classical paintings and sculptures, and is one of the most valuable buildings in the French Renaissance. Its overall building is "U" shaped, covering an area of 24 hectares, and the building covers an area of 4.8 hectares. The Louvre is divided into Greek and Roman Art Museum, Egyptian Art Museum, Oriental Art Museum, Painting Museum, Sculpture Museum and Decorative Art Museum.
In 1204, during the Crusade, in order to protect the Paris area on the north bank, Philip II built a castle leading to the Seine River here, which was mainly used to store royal archives and treasures, as well as his dogs and prisoners of war. At that time, it was called the Louvre. During the reign of Charles V, the Louvre was used as a palace, making it a completely different building.
Louvre
In the next 350 years, with the increasing demands of the royal nobles for pleasure, they continued to build magnificent towers and unique rooms. However, for the next 150 years, no king lived in the Louvre.
In the middle of the 16th century, after inheriting the throne, Francois I demolished the palace. He ordered the architect Pierre Lesco to rebuild a palace on the basis of the original castle. Fran ç ois also invited famous painters at that time to paint portraits for him. He worshipped Italian painters and bought the paintings of the most famous Italian painter at that time, Faeruo. Including the Mona Lisa and other treasures. Henry II, the son of Fran ç ois I, succeeded to the throne and rebuilt the part destroyed by his father. Henry loved the decoration of French Renaissance architecture and was not interested in Italian architecture. He followed his father's hobby, but did not have his father's aesthetic.
During the reign of Henry IV, he spent 13 years building the most spectacular part of the Louvre, the Grand Gallery. This is a gorgeous corridor with a length of 300 meters. The corridor is very long. Henry planted trees here, kept birds and dogs, and even chased foxes on horseback in the corridor. Louis XIV is a famous king in French history. He is called the Sun King. He was only five years old when he ascended the throne. He had been the king of the Louvre for 72 years - the longest reigning king in French history. Louis XIV built the Louvre into a square courtyard, and built a magnificent gallery outside the courtyard. He bought paintings from various European schools, including the works of Kashday, Rembrandt and others. He was infatuated with art and architecture all his life, which made the treasury of France empty. During the reign of Louis XVI, the famous 1789 Revolution broke out, and the first guillotine of the French Revolution was built in the courtyard of the "Arena" of the Louvre. On May 27, 1792, the National Assembly announced that the Louvre would belong to the public. On August 10, 1793, the Louvre Museum of Art officially opened to the public as a public museum. This situation continued for six years until Napoleon I moved into the Louvre.
Interior view under the glass pyramid of the Louvre
Napoleon built more houses around the building, strengthened the two wings of the palace, and built an arch in the arena courtyard. The first carved horses on the arch were taken from St. Mark's Church in Venice. Napoleon decorated the Louvre in an unprecedented way, and he moved the best works of art that other European countries can provide into the Louvre. Napoleon continued to expand and dominate Europe, so thousands of tons of art were transported to Paris from the halls, libraries and Catholic churches of all the conquered countries. Napoleon renamed the Louvre Napoleon Museum, and the huge corridor is also full of works of art he plundered. In the Louvre, Napoleon's brilliance lasted for 12 years, until the defeat of the Battle of Waterloo. For Napoleon, every piece of genius must belong to France. Such views are unacceptable to Germans, Italians, Spaniards and Dutch. After Napoleon lost power, they came to the Louvre and returned about 5000 pieces of art to their original owners. However, due to the French diplomatic means and the French persuasion, many works of art he plundered were still left in the Louvre. Napoleon III was an ambitious emperor. He was the "builder" with the most investment since the construction of the Louvre. More buildings were built in five years than all the predecessors built in 700 years. The magnificent design that came to mind three centuries ago was left to Napoleon III to complete. When it was completed, the Louvre became a place for royal celebration. Magnificence was the feature of everything Napoleon III built. In this way, the entire grand architectural complex of the Louvre was not completed until Napoleon III, nearly 600 years ago.
Interior of Louvre
In September 1981, Fran ç ois Mitterrand promised at a press conference held after he was elected President of the French Republic to "restore the Louvre to its original purpose", which meant that the Ministry of Finance would move out of the "Richelieu flank". The "Richelieu flank", built between 1852 and 1857, is 195 meters long and 80 meters wide. It is an integral part of the Louvre and has been occupied by the Ministry of Finance since 1871. In July 1989, Edward Balladir, then the finance minister, left this pleasant place after repeated requests. The withdrawal and opening of the "Richelieu flank" suddenly increased the exhibition area of the Louvre by 21500 square meters, 3 courtyards and 165 new exhibition halls. A total of 12000 pieces of art were displayed, of which 3000 were taken out of the storage room, which greatly increased the number of exhibits in the Louvre Museum.