Couple Getaways - L - Louvre

Evening view, courtyard of the Louvre and I.M. Pei pyramid. (Photographer: Benh Lieu Song.)

The Louvre is a French palace and the national art museum of France.

Located in Paris, the Louvre is one of the largest palaces in the world. It exemplifies traditional French architecture since the Renaissance, and it houses a magnificent collection of ancient and Western art.

The Louvre was first built as a fortress at the beginning of the 13th century to defend the Seine against the Normans and English.

The present day Louvre holds about 35,000 objects on display, spread out over three wings. These objects include famous ancient works of art such as a statuette of the Sumerian ruler Gudea, a stele bearing Hammurabi's code, an Egyptian painted stone statue of a scribe sitting cross-legged, the Venus de Milo, and the Victory of Samothrace. Among outstanding later works are two marble Slaves by Michelangelo, the treasure of the abbey of St. Denis, and the French crown diamonds. There are also some very famous paintings including the Pietà of Avignon, Leonardo da Vinci's Mona Lisa, Veronese's immense Wedding at Cana, and Watteau's Embarkation for Cythera. There is also a section with 'Objects d'Art', where objects such as clocks, furniture, china and tapestries are displayed.


The school of the Louvre trains curators in history of art and archaeology. Special exhibits are indicated in the Revue du Louvre.

All throughout April I'll be posting about Couple Getaways as part of the A-Z Challenge. I hope you'll stop by for the next destination! No passport necessary ;)


~Ann Cory