Louvre Palace

For the museum, seeLouvre.For other uses, seeLouvre (disambiguation).

TheLouvre Palace(French:Palais du Louvre,[palɛdyluvʁ]), often referred to simply as theLouvre,is an iconic French palace located on theRight Bankof theSeineinParis,occupying a vast expanse of land between theTuileries Gardensand the church ofSaint-Germain l'Auxerrois.Originally a defensivecastle,it has served several government-related functions in the past, including intermittently as a royal residence between the 14th and 18th centuries. It is now mostly used by theLouvre Museum,which first opened there in 1793.

Louvre Palace
Palais du Louvre
West wing of the Louvre'sCour Carréewith thePavillon de l'Horloge
General information
Type	Royal residence
Architectural style	Gothic(remains preserved underground),French Renaissance,Louis XIII style,French Baroque,Neoclassical,Neo-BaroqueandSecond Empire style,andModernism(Pyramid)
Location	Rue de Rivoli, 75001 Paris, France
Current tenants	Louvre,Musée des Arts Décoratifs,École du Louvre,Center for Research and Restoration of Museums of France
Construction started	1190 together with theWall of Philip II Augustus
Design and construction
Architect(s)	Numerous; includePierre Lescot,Louis Métezeau,Jacques Lemercier,Louis Le Vau,Claude Perrault,Percier and Fontaine,Louis Visconti,Hector Lefuel,I. M. Pei

North wing of Louvre facing main courtyard

While this area along the Seine had been inhabited for thousands of years,the Louvre's history starts around 1190 with its first construction as theLouvre Castledefending the western front of theWall of Philip II Augustus,the then new city-wall of Paris. The Louvre's oldest section still standing above ground, its palatialLescot Wing,dates from the late 1540s, whenFrancis Istarted the replacement of the greatly expanded medieval castle with a new design inspired by classical antiquity and ItalianRenaissance architecture.Most parts of the current building were constructed in the 17th and 19th centuries.In the late 20th century, theGrand Louvre projectincreased visitor access and gallery space, including by adding theLouvre Pyramidin the courtyard Cour Napoléon.

For more than three centuries, the history and design of the Louvre was closely intertwined with that of theTuileries Palace,created to the west of the Louvre by QueenCatherine de' Mediciin 1564, with its main block finally demolished in 1883. The Tuileries was the premier seat of French executive power during the last third of that period, from the return ofLouis XVIand his court fromVersaillesin October 1789 until the palace was set on fire during theParis Communeof 1871. The Louvre and Tuileries became physically connected as part of the project called the "Grand Design", with the completion of thePavillon de Florein the early 1600s. The Pavillon de Flore andPavillon de Marsan,which used to respectively mark the southern and northern ends of the Tuileries Palace, are now considered part of the Louvre Palace. TheCarrousel Garden,first created in the late 19th century (duringNapoleon III's Louvre expansion) in what used to be the great courtyard of the Tuileries (orCour du Carrousel), is now considered part of theTuileries Garden.

A less high-profile but historically significant dependency of the Louvre was to its immediate east, theHôtel du Petit-Bourbon,appropriated by the monarchy following the betrayal of theConstable of Bourbonin 1523 and mostly demolished in October 1660 to give way to the Louvre's expansion.The last remains of the Petit-Bourbon were cleared in the 1760s.

General description

This sections provides a summary description of the present-day complex and its main constituent parts.

Location and layout

Aerial view of the Louvre Palace (right) and theTuileries Garden(left) in 2018

Map of the modern Louvre Palace complex

The Louvre Palace (center) and the Tuileries Palace front (burned 1870s) circa 1850

The Louvre Palace is situated on the right bank of theSeine,between theQuai François Mitterrandto its south, theAvenue du Général-Lemonnierto its west (thus named since 1957; formerlyrue des TuileriesandAvenue Paul-Déroulède,converted into anunderpassin 1987–1989), theRue de Rivolito its north, and thePlace du Louvreto its east. The complex occupies about 40hectareswith buildings distributed around two main open spaces: the easternCour Carrée(square courtyard), which is closed by four wings that form the square of its name, and the centralCour Napoléon,which is open on its western side, beyond the thoroughfare known asPlace du Carrousel,towards the Carrousel Garden and the rest of theTuileries Garden.

The Louvre is slightly askew of the Historic Axis (Axe historique), a roughly eight-kilometer (five-mile) architectural line bisecting the city. The axis begins with the Louvre courtyard, at a point now symbolically marked by a lead copy ofBernini's equestrian statue of Louis XIV,and runs west along theChamps-ÉlyséestoLa Défenseand slightly beyond.

Since 1988, theLouvre Pyramidin the middle of the Cour Napoléon has marked the center of the Louvre complex. At the same time, theLouvreMuseum has adopted a toponymy developed by theCarbone Smolan Agencyto refer to the three clusters of buildings that surround that central focus point:

• To the east, the "Sully Wing" is the square-shaped set of buildings that surrounds the Cour Carrée, named afterMaximilien de Béthune, Duke of Sully.It includes the 16th-centuryLescot Wingand the footprint of theMedieval Louvrewhose remains are displayed underground;
• To the south, the "Denon Wing" is the array of buildings between the Cour Napoléon and the Seine, named after the Louvre's first directorVivant Denon.the Louvre's southwestern wing is theAile de Flore.The longGrande Galerieruns on the first floor for much of the length of this building, on the Seine-facing side.
• To the north, the "Richelieu Wing" is the almost-symmetrical array of buildings between the Cour Napoléon and the rue de Rivoli, named afterCardinal Richelieu.Its western extension alongside rue de Rivoli is theAile de Rohan,itself continued by theAile de Marsan.

TheLouvreMuseum occupies most of the palace's space, but not all of it. The main other users are at the building's two western tips: in the southwesternAile de Flore,theÉcole du LouvreandCenter for Research and Restoration of Museums of France(C2RMF); and in the northwesternAile de Marsan,theMusée des Arts Décoratifs.In total, some 51,615 square meters (555,000 square feet) in the palace complex are devoted to public exhibition floor space.

Many sections of the Louvre are referred to as "wings"(ailes) and "pavilions"(pavillons) – typically, the pavilions are the blocks at either the end or the center of a wing. In the Louvre's context, the word "wing" does not denote a peripheral location: the Lescot Wing, in particular, was built as the Louvre's maincorps de logis.Given the Louvre wings' length and the fact that they typically abutted parts of the city with streets and private buildings, several of them have passageways on the ground floor which in the Louvre's specific context are calledguichets.

Toponymy

The origin of the name Louvre is unclear. French historianHenri Sauval,probably writing in the 1660s, stated that he had seen "in an old Latin-Saxon glossary, Leouar is translated castle" and thus took Leouar to be the origin of Louvre.According to Keith Briggs, Sauval's theory is often repeated, even in recent books, but this glossary has never been seen again, and Sauval's idea is viewed as obsolete. Briggs suggests that H. J. Wolf's proposal in 1969 that Louvre derives instead from LatinRubras,meaning "red soil", is more plausible.David Hanser suggests instead that the word may come from Frenchlouveterie,a "place where dogs were trained to chase wolves".

La salle des terres cuites du musée Napoléon III au Louvre,by Sébastien Charles Giraud, Salon of 1866

Beyond the name of the palace itself, the toponymy of the Louvre can be treacherous. Partly because of the building's long history and links to changing politics, different names have applied at different times to the same structures or rooms. For example, what used to be known in the 17th and 18th centuries thePavillon du MilieuorGros Pavillonis now generally referred to asPavillon de l'Horloge,orPavillon Sully(especially when considered from the west), or alsoPavillon Lemercierafter the architectJacques Lemercierwho first designed it in 1624. In some cases, the same name has designated different parts of the building at different times. For example, in the 19th century, thePavillon de la Bibliothèquereferred to what was later called thePorte Jean-Goujon(still later,Porte Barbet-de-Jouy), on the south side of theGrande Galeriefacing the Seine, before becoming the name for the main pavilion of the Richelieu Wing On the rue de Rivoli, its exact symmetrical point from the Louvre Pyramid. The main room on the first floor of the Lescot Wing has been theSalle Haute,Grande Salle,Salle des Gardes,Salle d'Attente,in the 16th and 17th centuries. It was fragmented into apartments during the 18th century, then recreated in the early 19th and called successivelySalle Royale,Salle des Séances RoyalesorSalle des Etats(the latter also being the name of two other ceremonial rooms, created in the 1850s and 1860s respectively);then as part of the museum,salle des terres cuites,after 1871Salle La Cazein honor of donorLouis La Caze,Salle des Bronzes,and since 2021Salle Etrusque.The room immediately below, now known asSalle des Caryatides,has also been calledSalle Basse,Salle Basse des Suisses,Grande Salle,Salle des Gardes,Salle des Antiques(from 1692 to 1793), andSalle des Fleuvesin the past, among other names.

Sully Wing

The Sully Wing forms a square of approximately 160 m (520 ft) side length. The protruding sections at the corners and center of each side are known aspavillons.Clockwise from the northwest corner, they are named as follows:Pavillon de Beauvais(after a now-disappeared street),Pavillon Marengo(after the nearbyrue de Marengo),Pavillon Nord-Est(alsoPavillon des Assyriens),Pavillon Central de laColonnade(alsoPavillon Saint-Germain-l'Auxerrois),Pavillon Sud-Est(alsoPavillon des Egyptiens),Pavillon des Arts,Pavillon du Roi,andPavillon de l'Horloge,the latter also known asPavillon Sully.The section between the Pavillon du Roi and the Pavillon Sully, known as theLescot Wing(Aile Lescot) as it was designed by architectPierre Lescot,is the oldest standing part of the entire Louvre Palace. The section between the Pavillon Sully and the Pavillon de Beauvais, which was modeled after the Lescot Wing by architectJacques Lemercier,is similarly known as the Lemercier Wing (Aile Lemercier). The eastern wing is theAile de la Colonnade,named after its iconic eastern façade, theLouvre Colonnade.

Denon and Flore Wings

View of thePavillon Denonfrom the underground lobby of the Pyramid

On the southern side of theCour Napoléon,the Denon Wing's three main pavilions are named respectively, from east to west, afterNapoleon-era officialsPierre Daru,Vivant DenonandNicolas François Mollien.Between these and the wing facing the seine are three courtyards, from east to west theCour du Sphinx(covered as aglass atriumsince 1934),Cour Visconti(ground floor covered since 2012), andCour Lefuel.On the side of theSeine,this wing starts with the north–southPetite Galeriebordering a side garden known as theJardin de l'Infante,and continues westwards along theQuai François Mitterrandwith theSalon Carré,Grande Galerie,andPavillon de Flore.In the middle of the Grande Galerie are theGuichets du Carrousel,a composition of three monumental arches flanked by two narrow pavilions named respectively after theDuke of LesdiguièresandHenri de La Trémoille(Pavillon LesdiguièresandPavillon La Trémoille). Further west are thePavillon des Sessions,a protruding structure on the northern side, thePorte des Lions,a passageway to the quay,thePorte Jaujardon the north side, now the main entrance to theÉcole du Louvre,and finally thePavillon de Flore.

Richelieu and Marsan Wings

Similarly, on the northern side of theCour Napoléonare, from east to west, the pavilions named afterJean-Baptiste Colbert,Cardinal Richelieu,andAnne Robert Jacques Turgot.Between these and therue de Rivoliare three courtyards, from east to west theCour Khorsabad(formerlyCour de la Poste),Cour Puget(formerlyCour des GuichetsorCour de l'Horloge), andCour Marly(formerlyCour d'HonneurorCour du Ministre). On the side facing the rue de Rivoli, the main salient feature is thePavillon de la Bibliothèque,which connects to thePavillon Richelieuthrough the ground-floorPassage Richelieu(formerlyGuichet du Ministère) between theCour PugetandCour Marly.Further west are thePavillon de Rohanand theAile de Rohan,built in the early 19th century and named after the nearbyrue de Rohan,then theAile de Marsanand thePavillon de Marsan,both rebuilt byHector Lefuelin the 1870s.

Pyramid and underground spaces

TheLouvre Pyramid,built in the 1980s on a design byI. M. Pei,is now the centerpiece of the entire Louvre complex. It leads to the undergroundHall Napoléonwhich in turn serves a vast complex of underground spaces, including theCarrousel du Louvrecommercial mall around aninverted pyramidfurther west.

Architectural style

The Louvre's Pavillon de l'Horloge (designed in 1624) and Pavillon Richelieu (designed in 1852–1854)

The present-day Louvre Palace is a vast complex of wings and pavilions which, although superficially homogeneous in scale and architecture, is the result of many phases of building, modification, destruction and reconstruction. Its apparent stylistic consistency is largely due to conscious efforts of architects over several centuries to echo each other's work and preserve a strong sense of historical continuity, mirroring that of the French monarchy and state; American essayistAdam Gopnikhas written that "The continuity the Louvre represents is the continuity of the French state."For example, from the 1620s to the 1650sJacques Lemercierthoroughly replicated theLescot Wing's patterns for his design of the northern half of the western wing of theCour Carrée.In the 1660sLouis Le Vauechoed Lemercier'sPavillon de l'Horlogefor his redesign of the central pavillon of theTuileries Palacefurther west (burnt in 1871 and demolished in 1883), and mostly continued Lescot's and Lemercier's pattern for the completion of theCour Carrée.A separate design a few years later for theLouvre Colonnade,included window shapes on the ground level based on Lescot's for thePavillon du Roia century earlier, ensuring visual continuity even though the dramatic colonnade on the upper level was different from anything that had been done at the Louvre so far.In the 1810s,Percier and Fontainecopied thegiant orderof the western section of theGrande Galerie,built in the early 17th century and attributed toJacques II Androuet du Cerceau,for their design of the northern wing to connect the Tuileries with the Louvre along therue de Rivoli.In the 1850s duringNapoleon III's Louvre expansion,architectsLouis ViscontithenHector Lefuelbuilt the Denon and Richelieu pavilions as echoes of Lemercier's Pavillon de l'Horloge. In the 1860s and 1870s, Lefuel used designs inspired by theLescot Wingeven as he replaced the prior giant-order patterns created by Androuet du Cerceau and replicated by Percier and Fontaine. Finally, in the 1980s,I. M. Peimade explicit reference toAndré Le Nôtre,the designer of theTuileries Garden,for his design of theLouvre Pyramid.

Building history

This section focuses on matters of design, construction and decoration, leaving aside the fitting or remodeling of exhibition spaces within the museum, which are described in the articleLouvre.No fewer than twenty building campaigns have been identified in the history of the Louvre Palace.The architect of the largest such campaign,Hector Lefuel,crisply summarized the identity of the complex by noting: "Le Louvre est un monument qui a vécu"(translatable as" The Louvre is a building that has gone through a lot ").In the early 1920sHenri Verne,who would soon become the Louvre's Director, noted that "it has become, through the very slow pace of its development, the most representative monument of our national life."

Late 12th and 13th centuries

Plan of the medieval Louvre andwall of Philippe Augustewith additions to the Louvre made during the reign of Charles V, with indication of the footprint of later buildings

See also:Medieval Louvre Castle

In 1190 KingPhilip II of France,who was about to leave for theThird Crusade,ordered the construction of adefensive wall all around Paris.To protect the city, he opted to build the Louvre as a fortress just outside the wall's junction with theSeineon itsright bank,on the road to theDuchy of Normandythat was still controlled by his English rivals.Completed in 1202, the new fortress was situated in what is now the southwest quadrant of theCour Carrée,and some of its remains, excavated between late 1983 and late 1985, are conserved underground.

The original Louvre was nearly square in plan, at seventy-eight by seventy-two meters, and enclosed by a 2.6-metre thickcrenellatedandmachicolatedcurtain wall.The entire structure was surrounded by a water-filledmoat.On the outside of the walls were ten round defensive towers: one at each corner and at the center of the northern and western sides, and two pairs respectively flanking the narrow gates on the southern and eastern sides.

In the courtyard, slightly offset to the northeast, was the cylindricalkeepor donjon, known as theGrosse Tour du Louvre(Great Tower of the Louvre), thirty meters high and fifteen meters wide with 4-meter-thick external walls. The keep was encircled by a deep, dry ditch with stonecounterscarpsto help prevent the scaling of its walls with ladders. Accommodations in the fortress were supplied by the vaulted chambers of the keep as well as two wings built against the insides of the curtain walls of the western and southern sides.The circular plans of the towers and the keep avoided the dead angles created by square or rectangular designs which allowed attackers to approach out of firing range. Cylindrical keeps were typical of French castles at the time, but few were as large as the Louvre'sGrosse Tour.

Louis IXadded constructions in the 1230s, included the medieval Louvre's main ceremonial room orGrande Sallein which several historical events took place, and the castle's first chapel.The partly preserved basement part of that program was rediscovered during heating installations at the Louvre in 1882–1883, and has since then been known successively as theSalle de Philippe Augusteand, after renovation in the 1980s, as theSalle Saint-Louis.

14th century

In the late 1350s, the growth of the city and the insecurity brought by theHundred Years' WarledEtienne Marcel,provost of the merchants (i.e. municipal leader) of Paris, to initiate the construction of a new protective wall beyond that of Philip II. KingCharles Vcontinued the project in the 1360s, and it was later known as theWall of Charles V.From its westernmost point at the Tour du Bois, the new wall extended east along the north bank of the Seine to the old wall, enclosing the Louvre and greatly reducing its military value.Remains of that wall have been uncovered and reconstructed in the present-day Louvre'sCarrousel du Louvre.

Shortly after becoming king in 1364 Charles V abandoned thePalais de la Cité,which he associated with the insurgency led byEtienne Marcel,and made the Louvre into a royal residence for the first time, with the transformation designed by his architectRaymond du Temple.This was a political statement as well as a utility project – one scholar wrote that Charles V "made the Louvre his political manifesto in stone" and referred to it as "a remarkably discursive monument-a form of architectural rhetoric that proclaimed the revitalization of France after years of internal strife and external menace."The curtain wall was pierced with windows, new wings added to the courtyard, and elaborate chimneys, turrets, and pinnacles to the top. Known as thejoli Louvre( "pretty Louvre" ),Charles V's palace was memorably pictured in the illustrationThe Month of Octoberof theTrès Riches Heures du Duc de Berry.

15th century

In the late 14th and early 15th centuries, the preferred royal residence in Paris was theHôtel Saint-Polin what becamethe Marais,until theArmagnac–Burgundian Civil Warresulted in the monarchy leaving Paris altogether; in the 1420s and 1430sCharles VIIresided largely at or nearBourges,whereas his rival English claimantHenry VI's representative, theDuke of Bedford,generally resided in his base ofRouen,and while in Paris in hisHôtel des Tournelles.Even after Charles VII's ceremonial entry into Paris in 1437 and after the effective end of theHundred Years' Warin 1453, French monarchs preferred residing in theChâteaux of the Loire Valley,thePalace of Fontainebleauor, when in Paris, at theChâteau de Vincennesor the Hôtel des Tournelles. Meanwhile, the Louvre Castle was left in a state of increasing disrepair, even as it remained used as an arsenal and prison.

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  First excavation of the medieval Louvre byAdolphe Bertyin 1866
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  Remains of the Louvre's basement level, restored and opened to the public in the 1980s
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  TheSalle Saint-Louisfollowing its remodeling in the 1980s
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  The Louvre pictured in theTrès Riches Heures du Duc de Berry,1410s
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  The Louvre pictured in theAltarpiece of the Parlement de Paris,mid-15th century
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  The Louvre seen from the south, pictured in thePietà of Saint-Germain-des-Prés,late 15th century

16th century

See also:Lescot Wing,Petite Galerie of the Louvre,andGrande Galerie

In 1528, after returning from his captivity in Spain following hisdefeat at Pavia,Francis Iordered the demolition of the Louvre's old keep. In 1546 he formally commissioned the architectPierre Lescotand sculptorJean Goujonto modernize the Louvre into aRenaissance stylepalace, but the project appears to have actually started in 1545 since Lescot ordered stone deliveries in December of that year.The death of Francis I in 1547 interrupted the work, but it restarted under Francis's successorHenry IIwho on 10 July 1549 ordered changes in the building's design.

Lescot tore down the western wing of the old Louvre Castle and rebuilt it as what has become known as theLescot Wing,ending on the southern side with thePavillon du Roi.In the latter, he designed in 1556 the ceiling for Henry II's bedroom,still largely preserved after relocation in 1829 to the Louvre's Colonnade Wing, for which he departed from the French tradition of beamed ceilings. On the ground floor, Lescot installed monumental stonecaryatidsbased on classical precedents in thesalle des gardes,now known as theSalle des Caryatides.On the northern end of the new wing, Lescot created a monumental staircase in the 1550s, long known as theGrand Degré du Roi(nowEscalier Henri II,with sculpted ceilings attributed toJean Goujon.

During the early 1560s, Lescot demolished the southern wing of the old Louvre and started to replace it with a duplication of the Lescot Wing. His plan may have been to create a square complex of a similar size as the old Louvre, not dissimilar to theChâteau d'Écouenthat had been recently completed onJean Bullant's design, with an identical third wing to the north and a lower, entrance wing on the eastern side.A contested hypothesis attributes to Lescot the first intent to extend the Louvre's courtyard to its current size by doubling the lengths of the wings, even though no implementation was made of such plans until the 1620s.

Lescot is also credited with the design of thePetite Galerie,which ran from the southwest corner of the Louvre to the Seine. All work stopped in the late 1560s, however, as theWars of Religiongathered momentum.

In the meantime, beginning in 1564,Catherine de' Medicidirected the building of a new residence to the west, outside thewall of Charles V.It became known as theTuileries Palacebecause it was built on the site of old tile factories (tuileries). ArchitectPhilibert de l'Ormestarted the project, and was replaced after his death in 1570 byJean Bullant.A letter of March 1565 indicates that Catherine de' Medici already considered a building to connect the Tuileries with the older Louvre building.

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  Court façade of theLescot Wing,engraved byJacques Androuet du Cerceau,1576
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  Pavillon du Roi,south façade, du Cerceau, 1576
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  The Louvre in an ink drawing byJacques Cellier,1580s
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  Ground-floor plan of the Renaissance Louvre with the Lescot Wing at the top and the south wing on the left
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  West façade of the Lescot Wing c. 1560, elevation drawing by architect Henri Legrand (1868) based on historical documents
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  South façade with thePavillon du Roion the left and the southeast tower of the old Louvre on the right (engraved byIsraël Silvestre,c. 1650)
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  View of the Petite Galerie with the south wing on the right (engraved by Silvestre before 1654)

Henry IV,France's new king from 1589 (the first from theHouse of Bourbon) and master of Paris from 1594, is associated with the further articulation of what became known as theGrand Dessein( "Grand Design" ) of uniting the Louvre and the Tuileries in a single building, together with the extension of the eastern courtyard to the current dimensions of theCour Carrée.From early 1595 he directed the construction of theGrande Galerie,designed by his competing architectsLouis MétezeauandJacques II Androuet du Cerceau,who are respectively credited with the eastern and western sections of the building by a long tradition of scholarship. This major addition, about 460 meters long, was built along the bank of the Seine. On the ground floor at the eastern end of the new wing, Métezeau created a lavishly decorated room that was known as theSalle des AmbassadeursorSalle des Antiques,later calledSalle d'Augusteand nowSalle des Empereurs.At the time, the room on the first floor above, laterSalon Carré,was known asGrand SalonorSalon du Louvre.Henry IV also had the first floor of the Petite Galerie built up and decorated as theSalle des Peintures,with portraits of the former kings and queens of France.A portrait ofMarie de' MedicibyFrans Pourbus the Younger,still in theLouvre,is a rare remnant of this series.

17th century

TheTuileries Palaceconnected by the Grande Galerie to the Renaissance Louvre onMerian map of Paris,1615

See also:Pavillon de l'Horloge,Galerie d'Apollon,andLouvre Colonnade

In 1624,Louis XIIIinitiated the construction on a new building echoing thePavillon du Roion the northern end of theLescot Wing,now known as thePavillon de l'Horloge,and of a wing further north that would start the quadrupling of the Louvre's courtyard. ArchitectJacques Lemercierwon the design competition againstJean Androuet du Cerceau,Clément II Métezeau,and the son ofSalomon de Brosse.The works were stopped in 1628 at a time of hardship for the kingdom and state finances, and only progressed very slowly if at all until 1639. In 1639 Lemercier started a new building campaign during which the Pavillon de l'Horloge was completed. Its second staircase, mirroring Lescot'sGrand Degréto the north, was still unfinished whenthe Frondeagain interrupted the works in the 1640s, and its decoration has never been completed since then.At that time, much of the construction (though not the decoration) of the new wing had been completed, but the northern pavilion, orPavillon de Beauvais,designed by Lemercier similarly as Lescot'sPavillon du Roi,had barely been started.

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  The unfinishedGrande Galerieand theTour du Bois(end tower of theWall of Charles V) in the early 1600s
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  ThePavillon du RoiandLescot Wingwith the rest of the medieval castle still standing,Merian map of Paris(1615)
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  View of the Louvre from theLeft Bank,with thePavillon du RoiandPavillon de l'Horloge(left) and themedieval Louvre's towers still standing (right), byIsraël Silvestre
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  Similar view in 1656, byReinier Nooms
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  ThePont Rouge(nowPont Royal),Pavillon de Floreand western section of theGrande Galeriewith theTour du Boisstill standing in the mid-17th century, byReinier Nooms
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  West façade of the Louvre withJacques Lemercier's northward extension and the ground-floor walls ofPavillon de Beauvaisin the foreground; engraving c.1644 byIsraël Silvestre
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  Lemercier's wing pictured at a later date with the Pavillon de Beauvais completed and the start of the north wing heading east, engraving byIsraël Silvestre
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  Demolition of the north wing of the old Louvre Castle with the northeast tower still intact, engraving byIsraël Silvestre
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  The Louvre's western façade facing the Tuileries, after Le Vau's 1660s reconstruction of thePetite Galerie,byIsraël Silvestre
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  View of theSalon Carréand the southern end of the Petite Galerie from the south, engraving c.1670 byJean Marot

On the southern side, Lemercier commissionedNicolas Poussinto decorate the ceiling of theGrande Galerie.Poussin arrived from Rome in early 1641, but returned to Italy in November 1642 leaving the work unfinished.DuringLouis XIV's minority andthe Fronde,from 1643 to 1652 the Louvre was left empty as the royal family stayed at thePalais-Royalor outside of Paris;the Grande Galerie served as a wheat warehouse and deteriorated.

On 21 October 1652, the king and the court ceremonially re-entered the Louvre and made it their residence again, initiating a new burst of construction that would last to the late 1670s.

MeanwhileAnne of Austria,likeMarie de' Mediciasqueen motherbefore her, inhabited the ground-floor apartment in the Cour Carrée's southern wing. She extended it to the ground floor of thePetite Galerie,which had previously been the venue for theKing's CouncilThat "summer apartment" was fitted by architectLouis Le Vau,who had succeeded Lemercier upon the latter's death in 1654.The ceilings, decorated in 1655–1658 byGiovanni Francesco Romanelliwho had been recommended byCardinal Mazarin,are still extant in the suite of rooms now known as theAppartement d'été d'Anne d'Autriche.

In 1659, Louis XIV instigated a new phase of construction under Le Vau and painterCharles Le Brun.Le Vau oversaw the remodeling and completion of the Tuileries Palace, and at the Louvre, the completion of the walls of the north wing and of the eastern half of the south wing. By 1660 thePavillon de Beauvaisand the western half of the northern wing had been completed;in October of that year, most of theHôtel du Petit-Bourbonwas demolished to make way for the completion of the Cour Carrée. On the courtyard's southern side thePavillon des Artswas completed in 1663, with a design by Le Vau that echoed that of the Pavillon de l'Horloge.Most of the northern wing was completed in the mid-1660s, though without a salient central pavilion as had been built on the west and south (Pavillon de l'Horloge, Pavillon des Arts) or on the southwestern and northwestern corners (Pavillon du Roi, Pavillon de Beauvais).

On 6 February 1661, a fire destroyed the attic of theGrand Salonand much of theSalle des Peinturesin thePetite Galerie(though not Anne of Austria's ground-floor apartment). Le Vau was tasked by Louis XIV to lead the reconstruction. He rebuilt thePetite Galerieas the more ornateGalerie d'Apollon,created a new suite of rooms flanking it to the west (theGrand Cabinet du Roi,laterEscalier Percier et Fontaine) with a new façade on what became known as theCour de la Reine(laterCour de l'Infante,Cour du Musée,and nowCour du Sphinx), and expanded the formerGrand Salonon the northern side as well as making it double-height, creating theSalon Carréin its current dimensions.From 1668 to 1678 the Grande Galerie was also decorated with wood panelling, even though that work was left unfinished. TheSalon Carré,however, was still undecorated when the court left for Versailles in the late 1670s.Meanwhile, landscape architectAndré Le Nôtreredesigned the Tuileries, first created in 1564 in the Italian style, as aFrench formal garden.

The other major project of the 1660s was to create the Louvre's façade towards the city and thus complete theCour Carréeon its eastern side. It involved a convoluted process, with the king's ministerJean-Baptiste Colbertfirst sidelining Le Vau and then summoningGian Lorenzo Berninifrom Italy. Bernini stayed in Paris from 2 June to 20 October 1665,but none of his fivestriking designs gained approval, even though some building works started on their basis.Eventually a committee comprising Le Vau,Charles Le BrunandClaude Perraultproduced a symmetrical and classical design featuring a giantCorinthian ordercolonnade with paired columns and a balustrade running along the flat line of the roof. Works started in 1667 and the exterior structures were largely completed by 1674,but would not be fully decorated and roofed until the early 19th century underNapoleon.The definitive design of the east façade is attributed to Perrault, who made the final alterations needed to accommodate a decision to double the width of the south wing. He designed the new south façade, making it more compatible with the east facade and covering Le Vau's original south facade.Perrault redesigned the north wing's city-side facade,and is thought to have been at least partly responsible for an important alteration to the design of the north, east, and south facades facing the courtyard of the Cour Carrée: the addition of a full third story with pilasters surmounted by a balustrade, very unlike Lescot's attic story to the west.This change was not completed until the first decade of the 19th century (see below).

The works at the Louvre stopped in the late 1670s as the king redirected all construction budgets at thePalace of Versailles,despite his minister Colbert's insistence on completing the Louvre.Louis XIV had already left the Louvre from the beginning of 1666, immediately after the death of his motherAnne of Austriain her ground-floor apartment, and would never reside there again, preferring Versailles,Vincennes,Saint-Germain-en-Laye,or if he had to be in Paris, theTuileries.From the 1680s a new era started for the Louvre, with comparatively little external construction and fragmentation of its interior spaces across a variety of different uses.

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  Claude Perrault's design for the north façade, engraved byJacques-François Blondel
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  Louis Le Vau's design for the South façade, c.1660, engraved byJean Marot
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  From 1660 to 1663, Louis Le Vau extended the south wing by duplicating Lescot's austere terminal pavilion and wing but providing an original central pavilion with acolossal orderof engagedCorinthian columnsrising from the ground(detail from an engraving byJan van HuchtenburgafterAdam Frans van der Meulen)
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  Detail from a 1763 painting byRaguenetshowing the south wing with its new façade. The new rows of rooms added behind the new facade in front of Le Vau's older facade remained unroofed, and the topmost stories and steep-pitched roofs of the old pavilions had not yet been removed.
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  East wing of the Louvre(constructed 1667–1674),one of the most influential classical façades ever built in Europe, as it appeared in 2009

18th century

The Louvre on theTurgot map of Paris(1739) showing the unfinished wings of the Cour Carrée and new constructions in its midst

After the definitive departure of the royal court for Versailles in 1682, the Louvre became occupied by multiple individuals and organizations, either by royal favor or simplysquatting.Its tenants included theInfantaMariana Victoria of Spainduring her stay in Paris in the early 1720s,artists, craftsmen, the Academies, and various royal officers. For example, in 1743 courtier and authorMichel de Bonnevalwas granted the right to refurbish much of the wing between thePavillon des Artsand thePavillon Sud-Estinto his own house on his own expense, including 28 rooms on the ground floor and two mezzanine levels, and an own entrance on theCour Carrée.After Bonneval's death in 1766 his family was able to keep the house for a few more years.Some new houses were even erected in the middle of theCour Carrée,but were eventually torn down on the initiative of theMarquis de Marignyin early 1756. A follow-up 1758 decision led to the clearance of buildings on most of what is now thePlace du Louvrein front of the Colonnade, except for the remaining parts of theHôtel du Petit-Bourbonwhich were preserved for a few more years.

Marigny had ambitious plans for the completion of the Cour Carrée, but their execution was cut short in the late 1750s by the adverse developments of theSeven Years' War.Jacques-Germain Soufflotin 1759 led the demolition of the upper structures of Le Vau's dome above the Pavillon des Arts,whose chimneys were in poor condition,and designed the northern and eastern passageways (guichets) of the Cour Carrée in the late 1750s.The southernGuichet des Artswas designed byMaximilien Brébionin 1779and completed in 1780.Three archedguichetswere also opened in 1760 under theGrande Galerie,through thePavillon Lesdiguièresand immediately to its west.

The 1790s were a time of turmoil for the Louvre as for the rest of France. On 5 October 1789, KingLouis XVIand his court were forced to return from Versailles and settled in theTuileries Palace;many courtiers moved into the Louvre. Many of these in turn emigrated during theFrench Revolution,and more artists swiftly moved into their vacated Louvre apartments.

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  Plan of the Louvre's first floor in 1756, byJacques-François Blondel,showing uninhabitable and generally unroofed areas shaded (marked "A" )
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  Demolition of the remaining buildings of theHôtel du Petit-Bourbonin front of the Louvre, c.1760, byPierre-Antoine Demachy,Musée Carnavalet
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  Another view of the demolitions in front of the Colonnade, byPierre-Antoine Demachy,1764

19th century

See also:Napoleon III's Louvre expansion

In December 1804,NapoleonappointedPierre Fontaineas architect of the Tuileries and the Louvre. Fontaine had forged a strong professional bond with his slightly younger colleagueCharles Percier.Between 1805 and 1810Percier and Fontainecompleted the works of the Cour Carrée that had been left unfinished since the 1670s, despite Marigny's repairs around 1760. They opted to equalize its northern and southern wing with anatticmodeled on the architecture of theColonnade wing,thus removing the existing second-floor ornamentation and sculptures, of which some were byJean Goujonand his workshop.The Cour Carrée and Colonnade wing were completed in 1808–1809,andPercier and Fontainecreated the monumental staircase on the latter's southern and northern ends between 1807 and 1811.Percier and Fontaine also created the monumental decoration of most of the ground-floor rooms around the Cour Carrée, most of which still retain it, including their renovation of Jean Goujon'sSalle des Caryatides.On the first floor, they recreated the formerSalle Hauteof theLescot Wing,which had been partitioned in the 18th century, and gave it double height by creating a visitors' gallery in what had formerly been the Lescot Wing's attic.

Further west, Percier and Fontaine created the monumental entrance for the Louvre Museum (calledMusée Napoléonsince 1804). This opened from what was at the time called thePlace du Louvre,abutting the Lescot Wing to the west, into theRotonde de Mars,the monumental room at the northern end of theAppartement d'été d'Anne d'Autriche.The entrance door was dominated by a colossal bronze head of the Emperor byLorenzo Bartolini,installed in 1805.Visitors could either visit the classical antiquities collection (Musée des Antiques) in Anne of Austria's rooms or in the redecorated ground floor of the Cour Carrée's southern wing to the left, or they could turn right and access Percier and Fontaine's new monumental staircase, leading to both theSalon Carréand theRotonde d'Apollon(formerlySalon du Dôme) on the first floor (replaced in the 1850s by theEscalier Daru). The two architects also remade the interior design of theGrande Galerie,in which they created nine sections separated by groups of monumental columns, and a system of roof lighting with lateralskylights.

On the eastern front of theTuileries Palace,Percier and Fontaine had the existing buildings cleared away to create a vast open space, theCour du Carrousel,which they had closed with an iron fence in 1801.Somewhat ironically, the clearance effort was facilitated by thePlot of the rue Saint-Nicaise,a failed bomb attack on Napoleon on 24 December 1800, which damaged many of the neighborhood's building that were later demolished without compensation. In the middle of the Cour du Carrousel, theArc de Triomphe du Carrouselwas erected in 1806–1808 to commemorateNapoleon's military victories. On 10 April 1810, Percier and Fontaine's plan for the completion of theGrand Desseinof uniting the Louvre and the Tuileries was approved, following a design competition among forty-seven participants.Works started immediately afterwards to build an entirely new wing starting from thePavillon de Marsan,with the intent to expand it all the way to the Pavillon de Beauvais on the northwestern corner of the Cour Carrée. By the end of Napoleon's rule the works had progressed up to therue de l'Échelle.The architectural design of the southern façade of that wing replicated that attributed toJacques II Androuet du Cerceaufor the western section of theGrande Galerie.

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  One version of Percier and Fontaine's plan for uniting the Louvre and Tuileries
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  Percier and Fontaine's perspective of the proposed Louvre viewed from the west. Inspiration for the later Visconti work.
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  Percier and Fontaine's perspective of the proposed Louvre viewed from the east (c. 1809). Inspiration for the later Visconti work.

The Louvre viewed from thePavillon de Flore,anonymous drawing held at theBibliothèque nationale de France,1828

Percier and Fontainewere retained byLouis XVIIIat the beginning of theBourbon Restoration,and kept working on the decoration projects they had started under Napoleon. TheEscalier du Midiwas opened to the public on 25 August 1819.But there were no further budget allocations for the completion of the Louvre Palace during the reigns of Louis XVIII,Charles XandLouis-Philippe I,while the kings resided in theTuileries.By 1825, Percier and Fontaine's northern wing had only been built up to therue de Rohan,and made no progress in the following 25 years. Further attempts at budget appropriations to complete the Louvre, led byAdolphe Thiersin 1833 and again in 1840, were rejected by theChamber of Deputies.

From the early days of theSecond Republic,a greater level of ambition for the Louvre was again signaled. On 24 March 1848, the provisional government published an order that renamed the Louvre as thePalais du Peuple( "People's Palace" ) and heralded the project to complete it and dedicate it to the exhibition of art and industry as well as the National Library. In a February 1849 speech at theNational Assembly,Victor Hugodescribed the project as making the Louvre into a focal point for world culture, which he referred to a "Mecca of intelligence".

During the Republic's brief existence, the palace was extensively restored by Louvre architectFélix Duban,especially the exterior façades of thePetite GalerieandGrande Galerie,on which Duban designed the ornate portal now known asPorte Barbet-de-Jouy.Meanwhile, Duban restored or completed several of the Louvre's main interior spaces, especially thesalle des Sept-Cheminées,Galerie d'ApollonandSalon Carré,which Prince-PresidentLouis Napoleoninaugurated on 5 June 1851Expropriation arrangements were made for the completion of the Louvre and therue de Rivoli,and the remaining buildings that cluttered the space that is now theCour Napoléonwere cleared away..No new buildings had been started, however, by the time of theDecember 1851 coup d'état.

On this basis,Napoleon III was able to finally unite the Louvre with the Tuileriesin a single, coherent building complex.The plan of the Louvre's expansion were made byLouis Visconti,a disciple of Percier, who died suddenly in December 1853 and was succeeded in early 1854 byHector Lefuel.Lefuel developed Visconti's plan into a higher and more ornate building concept, and executed it at record speed so that the "Nouveau Louvre"was inaugurated by the Emperor on 14 August 1857. The new buildings were arranged around the space then calledPlace Napoléon-III,laterSquare du Louvreand, since the 20th century, Cour Napoléon. Before his death, Visconti also had time to rearrange the Louvre's gardens outside theCour Carrée,namely theJardin de l'Infanteto the south, theJardin de la Colonnadeto the east and theJardin de l'Oratoireto the north, and also designed theOrangerieandJeu de Paumeon the western end of theTuileries Garden.In the 1860s, Lefuel also demolished thePavillon de Floreand nearly half of the Grande Galerie, and reconstructed them on a modified design that included the passageway known as theGuichet de l'Empereur(laterPorte du Sud,now Porte des Lions), a newPavillon des Sessionsfor state functions, and the monumentalGuichets du Carrouselreplacing those created in 1760 near thePavillon Lesdiguières.

At the end of theParis Communeon 23 May 1871, the Tuileries Palace was burned down, as also was the Louvre Imperial Library in what is now the Richelieu Wing. The rest of palace, including the museum, was saved by the efforts of troopers, firemen and museum curators.

In the 1870s, the ever-resourceful Lefuel led the repairs to the Pavillon de Flore between 1874 and 1879, reconstructed the wing that had hosted the Louvre Library between 1873 and 1875,and thePavillon de Marsanbetween 1874 and 1879.In 1877, a bronzeGenius of ArtsbyAntonin Merciéwas installed in the place ofAntoine-Louis Barye's equestrian statue ofNapoleon III,which had been toppled in September 1870.

Meanwhile, the fate of the Tuileries' ruins kept being debated. Both Lefuel and influential architectEugène Viollet-le-Ducadvocated their preservation and the building reconstruction, but after the latter died in 1879 and Lefuel in 1880, theThird Republicopted to erase that memory of the former monarchy. The final decision was made in 1882 and executed in 1883, thus forever changing the Louvre's layout. Later projects to rebuild the Tuileries have resurfaced intermittently but never went very far.

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  TheSalonheld in 1831 in the eponymousSalon Carré,painted byNicolas Sébastien Maillotand showingGéricault'sThe Raft of the Medusain the middle
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  The eastern façade of thePetite Galeriefollowing its extensive exterior restoration byFélix Duban
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  Demolition of the last buildings on the Place du Carrousel in 1852, with theTuileries Palaceand thePavillon de Marsanin the background
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  The North (Richelieu) Wing under construction, with thePavillon de Floreand the Tuileries in the background
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  The brand-newPavillon Richelieuphotographed in the late 1850s
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  The Tuileries Palace was set afire by the Communards during the suppression of theParis Communein May 1871
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  The Tuileries (left) and Pavillon de Flore (right) damaged after the 1871 fire, showing the greater damage to the former than to the latter

The Gambetta monument in theCour Napoléon,c. 1900

A tallmonument to Léon Gambettawas planned in 1884 and erected in 1888 in front of the two gardens on what is now theCour Napoléon.That initiative carried heavy political symbolism, sinceGambettawas widely viewed as the founder of the Third Republic, and his outsized celebration in the middle of Napoleon III's landmark thus affirmed the final victory ofrepublicanismovermonarchismnearly a century after theFrench Revolution.Most of the monument's sculptures were in bronze and in 1941 were melted for military use byGerman occupying forces.What remained of the Gambetta Monument was dismantled in 1954.

20th century

See also:Grand Louvre

Some long unfinished parts of Lefuel's expansion were only completed in the early 20th century, such as the Decorative Arts Museum in the Marsan Wing, byGaston Redon,and the arch between theEscalier MollienandSalle Mollien,designed byVictor-Auguste Blavetteand built in 1910–1914.

The Napoleon Courtyard, with Ieoh Ming Pei's pyramid in its center, at dusk

Aside from the interior refurbishment of thePavillon de Florein the 1960s, there was little change to the Louvre's architecture during most of the 20th century. The most notable was the initiative taken in 1964 by ministerAndré Malrauxto excavate and reveal the basement level of theLouvre Colonnade,thus removing theJardin de la Colonnadeand giving thePlace du Louvreits current shape.

In September 1981, newly elected French PresidentFrançois Mitterrandproposed theGrand Louvreplan to move the Finance Ministry out of the Richelieu Wing, allowing the museum to expand dramatically. American architectI. M. Peiwas awarded the project and in late 1983 proposed a modernist glass pyramid for the central courtyard. TheLouvre Pyramidand its underground lobby, theHall Napoléon,opened to the public on 29 March 1989.A second phase of the Grand Louvre project, completed in 1993, created underground space below thePlace du Carrouselto accommodate car parks, multi-purpose exhibition halls and a shopping mall namedCarrousel du Louvre.Daylight is provided at the intersection of its axes by theLouvre Inverted Pyramid(la pyramide inversée), "a humorous reference to its bigger, right-side-up sister upstairs."The Louvre's new spaces in the reconstructed Richelieu Wing were near-simultaneously inaugurated in November 1993. The third phase of the Grand Louvre, mostly executed by the late 1990s, involved the refurbishment of the museum's galleries in the Sully and Denon Wings where much exhibition space had been freed during the project second phase.

21st century

The renovation of the Carrousel Garden was also completed in 2001.

Uses

Whereas the name "Louvre Palace" refers to its intermittent role as a monarchical residence, this is neither its original nor its present function. The Louvre has always been associated with French state power and representation, under many modalities that have varied within the vast building and across its long history.Percier and Fontainethus captured something of the long-term identity of the Louvre when they described it in 1833 as "viewed as the shrine of [French] monarchy, now much less devoted to the usual residence of the sovereign than to the great state functions, pomp, festivities, solennities and public ceremonies."Except at the very beginning of its existence, as a fortress, and at the very end (nearly exclusively) as a museum building, the Louvre Palace has continuously hosted a variety of different activities.

Military facility

The Louvre started as a military facility and retained military uses during most of its history. The initial rationale in 1190 for building a reinforced fortress on the western end of the new fortifications of Paris was the lingering threat of English-heldNormandy.After the construction of theWall of Charles V,the Louvre was still part of the defensive arrangements for the city, as the wall continued along the Seine between it and theTour du Boisfarther west, but it was no longer on the frontline. In the next centuries, there was no rationale for specific defenses of the Louvre against foreign invasion, but the palace long retained defensive features such as moats to guard against the political troubles that regularly engulfed Paris. The Louvre hosted a significantarsenalin the 15th and most of the 16th centuries,until its transfer in 1572 to the facility that is now theBibliothèque de l'Arsenal.

From 1697 on, the French state's collection ofplans-reliefswas stored in theGrande Galerie,of which it occupied all the space by 1754 with about 120 items placed on wooden tables.The plans-reliefs were used to study and prepare defensive and offensive siege operations of the fortified cities and strongholds they represented. In 1777, as plans started being made to create a museum in the Grande Galerie, the plans-reliefs were removed to theHôtel des Invalides,where most of them are still displayed in theMusée des Plans-Reliefs.Meanwhile, a collection of models of ships and navy yards, initially started by naval engineerHenri-Louis Duhamel du Monceau,was displayed between 1752 and 1793 in aSalle de Marinenext to theAcadémie des Sciences's rooms on the first floor of theLescot Wing.That collection later formed the core of the maritime museum created in 1827, which remained at the Louvre until 1943 and is now theMusée national de la Marine.

DuringNapoleon III's Louvre expansion,the new building program included barracks for theImperial Guardin the new North (Richelieu) Wing,and for theCent-gardes Squadronin the South (Denon) Wing.

Feudal apex

The round keep ofPhilip II's Louvre Castle became the symbolic location from which all the king'sfiefsdepended. The traditional formula for these, that they "depended on the king for his great keep of the Louvre" (relevant du roi à cause de sa grosse tour du Louvre) remained in use until the 18th century, long after the keep itself had been demolished in the 1520s.

Archive

Philip II also created a permanent repository for the royal archive at the Louvre, following the loss of the French kings' previously itinerant records at theBattle of Fréteval(1194). That archive, known as theTrésor des Chartes,was relocated underLouis IXto thePalais de la Citéin 1231.

A number of state archives were again lodged in the Louvre's vacant spaces in the 18th century, e.g. the minutes of theConseil des Financesin the attic of theLescot Wing,and the archives of theConseil du Roiin several ground-floor rooms in the late 1720s.The kingdom's diplomatic archives were kept in thePavillon de l'Horlogeuntil their transfer to Versailles in 1763, after which the archives of theMaison du Roiand of theBureau de la Ville de Parissoon took their place. In 1770, the archives of theChambre des Compteswere placed in the Louvre's attic, followed by the archives of theMarshals of Francein 1778 and those of theOrder of Saint Michaelin 1780.In 1825, after theConseil d'Étathad been relocated to the Lemercier Wing, its archives were moved to the entresol below theGrande Galerie,near theBibliothèque du Louvre.

Prison

The Louvre became a high-profile prison in the immediate aftermath of theBattle of Bouvinesin July 1214, asFerdinand, Count of Flanderswas taken into captivity byPhilip II.Ferdinand stayed there for 12 years. Other celebrity inmates includedEnguerrand IV de Coucyin 1259,Guy of Flandersin 1304, BishopGuichard de Troyesin 1308–1313,Louis de Dampierrein 1310,Enguerrand de Marignyin 1314,John of Montfortin 1341–1345,Charles II of Navarrein 1356,andJean III de Graillyfrom 1372 to his death there in 1375.The Louvre was reserved for high-ranking prisoners, while other state captives were held in theGrand Châtelet.Its use as a prison declined after the completion of theBastillein the 1370s, but was not ended: for example,Antoine de Chabanneswas held at the Louvre in 1462–1463,John II, Duke of Alençonin 1474–1476, andLeonora Doriin 1617 upon the assassination of her husbandConcino Conciniat the Louvre's entrance followingLouis XIII's orders.

Treasury

Under Philip II and his immediate successors, the royal treasure was kept in the Paris precinct of theKnights Templar,located at the present-daySquare du Temple.KingPhilip IVcreated a second treasury at the Louvre, whose first documented evidence dates from 1296.Following thesuppression of the Templars' Orderby the same Philip IV in the early 14th century, the Louvre became the sole location of the king's treasury in Paris, which remained there in various forms until the late 17th century.In the 16th century, following the reorganization into theTrésor de l'Épargnein 1523, it was kept in one of the remaining medieval towers of the Louvre Castle, with a dedicated guard.

Place of worship

By contrast to thePalais de la Citéwith its soaringSainte-Chapelle,the religious function was never particularly prominent at the Louvre. The royal household used the nearbySaint-Germain l'Auxerroisas theirparish church.A chapel of modest size was built byLouis IXin the 1230s in the western wing, whose footprint remains in the southern portion of theLescot Wing's lower main room. In the 1580s, KingHenry IIIprojected to build a large chapel and then a convent in the space between the Louvre and the Seine, but only managed to demolish some of the existing structures on that spot.

At the time whenLouis XIVresided at the Louvre, a new chapel was established on the first floor of thePavillon de l'Horlogeand consecrated on 18 February 1659 as Our Lady of Peace and of Saint Louis, the reference to peace being made in the context of negotiation withSpainthat resulted later that year in theTreaty of the Pyrenees.This room was of double height, including what is now the pavilion's second floor (or attic). In 1915, the Louvre's architectVictor-Auguste Blavetteconsidered restoring that volume to its original height of more than 12 meters, but did not complete that plan.

On 2 April 1810,Percier and Fontainehad theSalon Carrétemporarily redecorated and converted into a chapel for the wedding ofNapoleonandMarie Louise of Austria.Meanwhile, in planning the Louvre's expansion and reunion with the Tuileries, Napoleon insisted that a major church should be part of the complex. In 1810 Percier and Fontaine made plans to build it on the northern side of the present-dayCour Napoléon.Its entrance would have been through a new protruding structure now known as theRotonde de Beauvais,facing the symmetrical entrance of the Louvre museum on the southern side in theRotonde d'Apolon.The church was to be dedicated to Saint Napoleon, a hitherto obscure figure promoted by Napoleon as patron saint of his incipient dynasty (Napoleon also instituted a national holiday on his birthday on 15 August and called it theSaint-Napoléon). It was intended to "equal in greatness and magnificence that of the Château de Versailles" (i.e. thePalace Chapel).Percier and Fontaine initiated work on the Rotonde de Beauvais, which was completed duringNapoleon III's Louvre expansion,but the construction of the main church building was never started.

Home of national representation

Satirical representation of the 1593 Estates General meeting in theLescot Wing's first-floor main room (since 2021 thesalle étrusque), from theSatire Ménippée

Opening of the annual legislative session byLouis XVIIIon 28 January 1823, in the same room restored byPercier and Fontaine

Napoleon III'ssalle des Etatsin thenewly built Denon Wing,anonymous photograph ca. 1860

In 1303, the Louvre was the venue of the second-ever meeting of France'sEstates General,in the wake of the first meeting held the previous year atNotre-Dame de Paris.The meeting was held in theGrande Salleon the ground floor of the castle's western wing.In 1593, another session of the Estates General was held in the Louvre, one floor up compared with 1303 following reconstruction as theLescot Wing.That session, however, was without the presence of KingHenry IVand organized by theCatholic Leaguewith a view to replacing him.The next session of the Estates General in 1614–1615 was held in the larger room of theHôtel du Petit-Bourbon,in effect a contiguous dependency of the Louvre at that time.

During theBourbon Restoration,the same first-floor room that had been used for the 1593 meeting, recreated byPercier and Fontaineas theSalle des Séances,was used for the yearly ceremonial opening of the legislative session, which was attended by the king in person – even though ordinary sessions were held in other buildings, namely thePalais Bourbonfor theChamber of Deputiesand theLuxembourg Palacefor theChamber of Peers.During theJuly Monarchy,the yearly opening session was located at the Palais Bourbon, but it was brought back to the Louvre under theSecond Empire.From 1857 onwards, the newSalle des Étatsin the South (Denon) Wing ofNapoleon III's Louvre expansionwas used for that purpose. In the 1860s Napoleon III and Lefuel planned a new venue to replace theSalle des Etatsin the newly purpose-builtPavillon des Sessions,but it was not yet ready for use at the time of the Empire's fall in September 1870.

That role of the Louvre disappeared following the end of the French monarchy in 1870. As a legacy of the temporary relocation of both assemblies in thePalace of Versaillesin the 1870s, theirjoint sessionshave been held there ever since, in a room that was purpose-built for that use (salle des séances) and completed in 1875 in the Versailles palace's South Wing.

Royal residence

For centuries, the seat of executive power in Paris had been established at thePalais de la Cité,at or near the spot whereJulianhad been proclaimed Roman Emperor back in 360 CE. The political turmoil that followed the death ofPhilip IV,however, led to the emergence of rival centers of power in and around Paris, of which the Louvre was one. In 1316Clementia of Hungary,the widow of recently deceased kingLouis X,spent much of her pregnancy at theChâteau de Vincennesbut resided at the Louvre when she gave birth to baby KingJohn Ion 15 November 1316, who died five days later. John was thus both the only king of France born at the Louvre, and almost certainly the only one who died there (Henry IVis now generally believed to have died before his carriage arrived at the Louvre following his fatal stabbing in therue de la Ferronnerieon 14 May 1610).Philip VIoccasionally resided at the Louvre, as documented by some of his letters in mid-1328.KingJohn IIis also likely to have resided at the Louvre in 1347, since his daughterJoan of Valoiswas betrothed there to Henry of Brabant on 21 June 1347, and his short-lived daughter Marguerite was born at the Louvre on 20 September 1347.

Charles V of France,who had survived the invasion of the Cité byÉtienne Marcel's partisans in 1358, decided that a less central location would be preferable for his safety. In 1360 he initiated the construction of theHôtel Saint-Pol,which became his main place of residence in Paris. Upon becoming king in 1364, he started transforming the Louvre into a permanent and more majestic royal residence, even though he stayed there less often than at the Hôtel Saint-Pol. After Charles V's death, his successorCharles VIalso mainly stayed at the Hôtel Saint-Pol, but as he was incapacitated by mental illness, his wifeIsabeau of Bavariaresided in the Louvre and ruled from there.

Later 15th-century kings did not reside in the Louvre, nor did eitherFrancis IorHenry IIeven as they partly converted the Louvre as a Renaissance palace. The royal family only came back to reside in the newly rebuilt complex followingCatherine de' Medici's abandonment of theHôtel des Tournellesafter her husband Henry II's traumatic death there in July 1559. From then, the king and court would stay mainly in the Louvre between 1559 and 1588 whenHenry IIIescaped Paris, then between 1594 and 1610 underHenry IV.Beyond his minority,Louis XIIIdid not much reside in the Louvre and preferred the suburban residences ofSaint-Germain-en-Laye(whereLouis XIVwas born on 5 September 1638, and whereLouis XIIIhimself died on 14 May 1643) andFontainebleau(where Louis XIII had been born on 27 September 1601).Louis XIV stayed away from the Louvre duringthe Frondebetween 1643 and 1652, and departed from there following the death of his mother in 1666.Louis XVonly briefly resided in the Louvre'sAppartement d'été d'Anne d'Autrichein 1719, as theTuilerieswere undergoing refurbishment.

BothLouis XIVin the 1660sandNapoleonin the 1810s made plans to establish their main residence in theColonnade Wing,but none of these respective projects came to fruition. Napoleon's attempt led toPercier and Fontaine's creation of the two monumental staircase on both ends of the wing, but was abandoned in February 1812.

Library

Charles Vpictured with a precious book, miniature ofJohn of Salisbury'sPolicraticus,1372

Charles Vwas renowned for his interest in books (thus his moniker "le sage"which translates as" learned "as well as" wise "), and in 1368 established a library of about 900 volumes on three levels inside the northwestern tower of the Louvre, then renamed fromTour de la FauconnerietoTour de la Librairie.The next year he appointedGilles Mallet,one of his officials, as the librarian. This action has been widely viewed as foundational, transitioning from the kings' prior practice of keeping books as individual objects to organizing a collection with proper cataloguing; as such, Charles V's library is generally considered a precursor to theFrench National Library,even though it was dismantled in the 15th century.

In 1767, a project to relocate the Royal Library from its site onrue de Richelieuinto the Louvre was presented byJacques-Germain Soufflot,endorsed bySuperintendent de Marignyand approved byLouis XV,but remained stillborn for lack of funds.A similar project was endorsed byNapoleonfrom February 1805,for whichPercier and Fontaineplanned a new Library wing as the centerpiece of their program to fill the space between Louvre and Tuileries, but it was not implemented either.

A separate and smallerBibliothèque du Louvrewas formed from book collections seized during the Revolution and grew during the 19th century's successive regimes. Initially located in the Tuileries in 1800, it was moved to theGrande Galerie'sentresolin 1805. In 1860 it was moved to a new space created by Lefuel on the second floor of the new North (Richelieu) Wing ofNapoleon III's Louvre expansion,whose main pavilion on therue de Rivoliwas accordingly namedPavillon de la Bibliothèque.The new library was served by an elegant staircase, nowEscalier Lefuel,and was decorated byFrançois Victor Eloi BiennourryandAlexandre-Dominique Denuelle.It was destroyed by arson in May 1871 at the same time as the Tuileries, and only a few of its precious holdings could be saved.

Yet another library, theBibliothèque Centrale des Musées Nationaux(BCMN), was gradually developed by the curators, mainly during the 20th century, and located on half of the attic of the Cour Carrée's southern wing, on the river-facing side. The transfer of its collections to the newInstitut National d'Histoire de l'Artwas planned in the 1990sand executed in early 2016 after much delay.Several smaller libraries remain in the Louvre: aCentre Dominique-Vivant Denonin the BCMN's former spaces, open to the public;a specialized scholarly library on art of the eastern Mediterranean and the Middle East, located on theCour Lefueland thus known as theBibliothèque Lefuel;and two other specialized libraries, respectively on painting in theAile de Floreand decorative arts in theAile de Rohan.

Ceremonial venue

Wax effigy ofHenry IVdisplayed in the Louvre's lower main room on 10–21 June 1610, engraving after a painting byFrançois Quesnel

On the occasion ofCharles IV, Holy Roman Emperor's visit to Paris in 1377–1378, the main banquet was held at thePalais de la Citébut the French king used the Louvre'sGrande Salleon the next day to give a major speech on his political position in the conflict now known as theHundred Years' War.Themedieval Louvre's western wing was where the ceremonial spaces were located, and that geography did not change with the 16th century's reconstruction asLescot Wing.Following the latter, most major functions were held either on the lower main room now known asSalle des Caryatides,or in the upper main room then known under various names (see above) and now as theSalle Etrusque.

A number of betrothals and weddings were concluded and celebrated at the Louvre. These included the betrothal of Henry of Brabant andJoan of Valoison 21 June 1347, the weddings ofCharles of OrléansandIsabella of Valoison 9 November 1389, ofJohn of BrittanyandJoan of Franceon 30 July 1397, ofCharles of FranceandMarie of Anjouon 18 December 1413, ofFrancis of Neversand Marguerite of Bourbon-La Marche on 19 January 1538, ofFrancis of FranceandMary Stuarton 19 April 1558, ofCharles III, Duke of LorraineandClaude of Franceon 19 January 1559; the betrothal ofEdward VI of EnglandandElisabeth of Valoison 20 June 1559; the weddings ofHenry of NavarreandMargaret of Valoison 19 August 1572, ofFrançois de BourbonandJeanne de Coesmeon 17 December 1582, ofLouis, Grand CondéandClaire-Clémence de Mailléon 7 February 1641, ofCharles Amadeus of SavoyandÉlisabeth de Bourbonon 11 July 1643, ofArmand de BourbonandAnne Marie Martinozzion 21 February 1654, and ofHenri Jules of CondéandAnne Henriette of Bavariaon 11 December 1663. Another grimmer occasion was just after the assassination of King Henry IV, when the King's coffin was put to lay in state in theSalle des Caryatidesof theLescot Wing.

One of the more recent ceremonial gatherings in the Louvre was a candlelit dinner given in theSalle des Caryatideson 10 April 1957 in honor of QueenElizabeth IIandPrince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh,hosted by French PresidentRené Cotyat the end of their weeklong visit in Paris. An after-dinner reception was then given in theappartement d'été d'Anne d'Autriche.A few years later, ministerAndré Malrauxstarted a tradition of public ceremonies in theCour Carréeto celebrate recently deceased French cultural luminaries. These were held in honor ofGeorges Braqueon 3 September 1963 andLe Corbusieron 1 September 1965, with Malraux delivering theeulogy;of Malraux himself on 27 November 1976, with eulogy by prime ministerRaymond Barre;and ofPierre Soulageson 2 November 2022, with eulogy by presidentEmmanuel Macron.

Guest residence for foreign sovereigns and royals

King Charles V (center right) hosting Emperor Charles IV (center left) in Paris in early 1378. Both monarchs stayed at the Louvre after the banquet depicted here

King Francis I and Emperor Charles V enter Paris together on 1 January 1540, fresco byTaddeo Zuccari,Villa Farnese.Charles spent his first Parisian night at thePalais de la Citéand the following five at the Louvre, spruced up for the occasion

The Louvre was the Parisian accommodation of the Emperors who came to visit France:Charles IV, Holy Roman Emperorstayed there in early 1378;Byzantine EmperorManuel II Palaiologosfrom June 1400 to November 1402, using it as his base for several trips across Europe;Sigismund, Holy Roman Emperorin March and April 1416;andCharles V, Holy Roman Emperoron 2–7 January 1540.

In the late 1640s as the royal family had temporarily left the Louvre, QueenHenrietta Mariaof England spent some of her Parisian exile in the apartment of the Queen Mother, on the ground floor of the southern wing of theCour Carrée,where in early February 1649 she learned about the execution of her husbandCharles I.

In 1717, theAppartement d'été d'Anne d'Autrichewas made available toPeter the Greatduring his visit in Paris, but the Tsar preferred to stay in the less grandioseHôtel de Lesdiguières.In 1722, the same apartment became the temporary residence of InfantaMariana Victoria of Spain,who was promised to marry the youngLouis XV(she then moved to Versailles, and in 1725 returned to Spain following the cancelation of the marriage project). This episode remains in the name of the garden in front of thePetite Galerie,known since as theJardin de l'Infante.The courtyard on the other side of the wing, previously known asCour de la Reine,was also known as theCour de l'Infantefor much of the 18th century (and laterCour du Musée,nowCour du Sphinx).

In the 1860s,Napoleon IIIdecided to create a prestige apartment for visiting sovereigns in theAile de Flore,close to his own apartment in theTuileries Palace.Lefuel designed it with a monumentalescalier des Souverains,the decoration of which he led between 1873 and 1878 even though the monarchy had fallen in the meantime. That project, however, was left unfinished, and in 1901–1902 its richly decorated upper section was repurposed into a room which is now the study gallery of the Louvre's department of graphical arts.

Court house

Louis XVIIIgranting theCharter of 1814to grateful France, 1827 painting byMerry-Joseph Blondelin theSalle des Séances du Conseil d'Etat,Lemercier Wing

The Louvre has traditionally not had much of a judiciary role, since royal justice was strongly associated with the much olderPalais de la Cité,and local judicial functions under thePrévôt de Paris,including torture and incarceration, were mainly located at theGrand Châtelet.In 1505, as the Châtelet underwent renovation works, its judicial functions were temporarily hosted in the Louvre. Given the castle's prestige it was deemed unsuitable for torture, which was instead carried out during that period in thePetit Châtelet.

UnderHenry IV,theParlement of Pariswas summoned by the king to hold sessions at the Louvre rather than at its traditional venue of the Palais de la Cité.

The Louvre again hosted a judiciary institution when theConseil d'Étatwas located there between 1824 and 1832. It was awarded the first floor of the Lemercier Wing On the western side of theCour Carrée,and remained there until 1832. The painted ceilings of that era, installed in 1827, are still preserved with allegorical themes related to French history and legislation.

The space to the south of theLescot Wing's Lower Great Hall (nowSalle des Caryatides), created byPierre Lescotin phases between 1546 and the late 1550s and later remodeled, is known as thetribunal.This word, however, refers to its architectural setting, providing a monumental stand for the royal family to watch and dominate the functions held in the Great Hall, and not to a judicial role.

Execution site

First execution with guillotine at Place du Caroussel, August 1792

The Louvre was the scene of capital punishment on various occasions. On 4 December 1591,Charles de Guisehad four members of the 16-memberConseil des Seizehung from the ceiling of theLescot Wing's lower main room, now theSalle des Caryatides.During theFrench Revolutionbetween 21 August 1792 and 11 May 1793, theguillotinewas installed on thePlace du Carrouselin front of theTuileries Palace.It was relocated to thePlace de la Concorde(then known asPlace de la Révolution), first on a one-off basis for theexecution of Louis XVIon 21 January 1793, and then permanently in May of the same year.

Entertainment venue

Entertainment performances such as tournaments, games, balls and theater were a core part of court life at the time when the Louvre was a royal residence. On the night of 5 February 1606, a torch-lit carrousel was performed in the Louvre's courtyard between midnight and 5 am, with the monarchs and courtiers watching from their apartments' windows.In 1610, a gladiator-style fight between a man and a lion was organized in the courtyard, which King Henry IV also watched from inside the building.In February 1625 and 1626 respectively, two major balletsburlesquesdirected byDaniel Rabelwere performed in the Louvre's Lower Great Room (nowSalle des Caryatides), withLouis XIIIhimself appearing as one of the dancers.

Theatrical representations were particularly significant in the period following the return of the court to the Louvre in 1652.Molièrefirst performed in front of the king in the large first-floor room of theLescot Wingon 24 October 1658, playing hisNicomèdeandLe Dépit amoureux.Following that performance's success, he was granted use of a space first in theHôtel du Petit-Bourbonand then, after the latter's demolition to make space for theLouvre Colonnade,at thePalais-Royal.Molière again performed at the Louvre on 29 January 1664 when he directedLe Mariage forcé,withLouis XIVhimself playing a cameo role as an Egyptian, in the main room of the Queen Mother on the ground floor of the Cour Carrée's southern wing. On 17 November 1667,Jean Racine'sAndromaquewas created at the Louvre in Louis XIV's presence.

Some lavish entertainment performances left such a mark on collective memory that parts of the Louvre came to be named after them. Thus, thePlace du Carrouselpreserves the memory of theGrand Carrouselof 5–6 June 1662, and thePavillon de Floreis named after theBallet de Florethat was first performed there on 13 February 1669.

Napoleondecided to build a new venue for theParis Operaas part of his project to complete the Louvre and its reunion with the Tuileries. In 1810Percier and Fontaineplanned a new opera house north of what is now theCour Napoléon,on a similar footprint to the present-dayPassage Richelieu,with main entrance on the northern side facing thePalais-Royal.That project, however, was not implemented.Nor wasNapoleon III's plan in the 1860s to build a large theater room in theAile de Marsanas a symmetrical counterpart to thePavillon des Sessionshe created in the southernAile de Flore.

In the 1960s, a theater appears to have operated in thePavillon de Marsan,known as theThéâtre du Pavillon de Marsan.Samuel Beckett's play namedPlay(French:Comédie) had its French premiere there on 11 June 1964, directed byJean-Marie Serreau.

In 1996, theComédie-Françaiseopened theStudio-Théâtrein the underground spaces of theCarrousel du Louvre,its third venue (after its mainPalais-Royalfacility and theThéâtre du Vieux-Colombier).

Residence of artists and craftsmen

On 22 December 1608, Henry IV publishedletters patentheralding his decision to invite hundreds of artists and craftsmen to live and work on the floors under theGrande Galerie.Simultaneously, Henry established a tapestry factory there, which remained until its transfer to theGobelins Manufactoryin 1671. Creators who lived under the Grande Galerie in the 17th and 18th centuries includedLouis Le Vau,Théophraste Renaudotfrom 1648 to 1653,André Charles Boulle,Jean-Baptiste Pigalle,Augustin Pajou,Maurice Quentin de La Tour,Claude-Joseph Vernet,Carle Vernet,Horace Vernet(who was born there),Jean-Baptiste Greuze,Jean-Honoré Fragonard,andHubert Robert.

Following the departure of the royal court to Versailles in the 1670s, a number of individuals, many of which were artists, obtained the privilege to establish their residence in parts of the formerly royal palace. These includedJacques-Louis Davidin the southeastern corner of theCour CarréeandCharles-André van Looin theGalerie d'Apollon.On 20 August 1801,Napoleonhad the artists and others who lived in the Cour Carrée all expelled,and in 1806 put a final end to the creators' lodgings under the Grande Galerie.

Royal mint

Medal ofLouis XIVbyJean Varin(1666), made at the Louvre mint

In July 1609,Henry IVtransferred themintto a space theGrande Galerie,from its previous location on theÎle de la Cité.The Louvre mint specialized in the production of medals, tokens and commemorative coins, and was correspondingly known as themonnaie des médailles,whereas common coin kept being produced at themonnaie des espècesonrue de la MonnaiebehindSaint-Germain l'Auxerroisas had been the case since the 13th century.

The Louvre's medals mint was led by prominent artists that includedGuillaume Dupré,Jean Varin,andClaude Ballin.It closed during theFrench Revolutionbut was revived in 1804 byVivant Denon.By imperial decree of 5 March 1806, it was relocated from the Louvre to theHôtel des Monnaieswhere themonnaie des espèceshad moved in 1775.

Residence of senior courtiers and officials

Dining room of theAppartement Napoleon III

In the 17th century, the second floor of thePavillon du Roiwas the home ofCharles d'Albert, duc de Luynesuntil 1621, then ofGaston, Duke of Orléans,and from 1652 ofCardinal Mazarinwho also established his nieces in the second-floor attic of theLescot Wing..Nicolas Fouquetand his successorJean-Baptiste Colbertsimilarly lived on the upper floors of thePavillon du Roi,above the King's bedchamber.

New prestige apartments for regime dignitaries were created as part ofNapoleon III's Louvre expansion.The main one, in the North (Richelieu) Wing, became the apartment of the Finance Minister after 1871, and as such featured prominently inRaymond Depardon's documentary1974, une partie de campagne,shot during the presidential election campaign of then ministerValéry Giscard d'Estaingin early 1974. The apartment was renovated in the early 1990s and is now a part of the Louvre's decorative arts department, known asAppartement Napoléon III.Another official apartment was created for the imperial "GreatEquerry"(grand écuyer)Émile Félix Fleury,in the South (Denon) Wing, with entrance through an ornate portico in theCour Lefuel.Part of that large apartment was converted in the 1990s into the museum's exhibition space for northern European sculpture, while another part has been used since 1912 as offices for the Louvre's director and their staff.Lefuel also created two successive apartments for the Louvre's directorÉmilien de Nieuwerkerke,the first in former rooms of theAcadémie de peinture,and when these had to be demolished to build theEscalier Daru,on the first floor of theCour Carrée's northern wing.

Severaltied cottagesstill exist in thePavillon de Flore,including one for the museum's Director.Other apartments in the same pavilion are reserved for senior personnel tasked with the museum's security and maintenance, so that they stay close in case their presence is needed for an emergency.

National printing house

Stamp of the Royal Printing House located at the Louvre, 1677

A first printing workshop appeared in the Louvre in the 1620s. In 1640, superintendentFrançois Sublet de Noyersestablished it as a royal printing house, theImprimerie du Louvre,putting an end to the monarchy's prior practice of subcontracting its printing tasks to individual entrepreneurs such asRobert Estienne.The royal printing house, soon known asImprimerie Royale,was first led bySébastien Cramoisyand his descendants, then by members of theAnisson-Duperron familythroughout the 18th century until 1792. It was relocated to theHôtel de Toulousein 1795, then theHôtel de Rohanin 1809.

In the early 1850s in the early stages ofNapoleon III's Louvre expansion,projects were made to relocate the national printing house (then known asImprimerie Impériale) in the new building of the Louvre, now the Richelieu Wing. These plans were criticized byLudovic Vitetamong others,and were not implemented.

Academic and educational facility

Inaugural session of theInstitut de Francein theSalle des Caryatides,24 October 1795

Amphithéâtre Rohanof theEcole du Louvre,after renovation in 2014

In the late 17th century, the Louvre started to become the seat of the French royal academies. First, in 1672 Colbert allowed theAcadémie Françaiseto meet on the ground floor of thePavillon du Roi,in the Guards' Room of the former Queen Mother's apartment. Soon the Académie moved to the ground floor of the Lemercier Wing on the Cour Carrée, and also maintained its library there. TheAcadémie des Inscriptionsjoined it in nearby rooms. TheAcadémie royale de peinture et de sculpturehad been established in the Grande Galerie until 1661, and returned to the Louvre in 1692, establishing itself in theSalon Carréand the nearby wing built by Le Vau on theCour de la Reine,next to theCabinet du Roiwhere a number of the king's paintings were kept.TheAcadémie royale d'architecturemoved to the Queen's apartment (in the southern wing of the Cour Carrée) in 1692.After a fire in 1740 it moved to the ground floor of the north wing.TheAcadémie des Sciencesalso moved to the Louvre in the 1690s, and in 1699 moved from the ground-floorBibliothèque du Roito the former king's room, namely theChambre de Parade,theSalle Henri II(antechamber) and the formerSalle des Gardes(nowSalle des Bronzeswhich was partitioned at that time.TheAcadémie politique,a diplomats' training school, took over in the 1710s the large room on the third floor of thePavillon de l'Horloge(now partitioned into offices).

From 1725, theSalon Carré,recently vacated with the return to Spain of the child Mariana Victoria, was used by theAcadémie royale de peinture et de sculpturefor its yearly exhibition, which took from it its name ofSalon.From 1763, the Académie also overtook theGalerie d'Apollon.

During theFrench Revolution,all academies were deemed to be fatally tainted by theAncien régimeassociations and terminated on 8 August 1793. Barely more than two years later, however, they were recreated as theInstitut de Franceon 24 October 1795, ceremonially inaugurated in theLescot Wing's ground-floor room (the Louvre'sSalle des Caryatides) on 4 April 1796.On 20 March 1805Napoleondecided to relocate the Institut from the Louvre to its current seat at the formerCollège des Quatre-Nations,which had been closed in 1791.

TheSalonrestarted on a yearly basis in the Salon Carré, until theRevolution of 1848.That year, the Louvre's energetic new directorPhilippe-Auguste Jeanronhad it relocated to theTuileries,so that the Salon Carré could be fully devoted to the museum's permanent exhibition. From 1857 the salon moved on from there to the newly builtPalais de l'Industrie.

TheÉcole du Louvrewas created in 1882 with the mission to "extract from the collections the knowledge they contain, and to train curators, missionaries and excavators". The school's curriculum originally focused onarchaeologybut soon expanded to related disciplines, such asart historyandmuseography.In the early years, the school's sessions were held in theCour Lefuelin two rooms of the former apartment of the great equerry,with entrance from the quayside.A large underground classroom, theamphithéâtre Courajodnamed after art historian and Louvre curatorLouis Courajod,was built in 1932 on architect Albert Ferran's design under theCour du Sphinx.It was replaced in the 1990s by the still largeramphithéâtre Rohan,also underground on the northern end of theCarrousel du Louvre.The formeramphithéâtre Courajodwas then transformed into exhibition rooms in which the Louvre'sCoptic artcollection is now displayed, including the architectonic pieces fromBawit.

Museum

Main articles:LouvreandMusée des Arts Décoratifs, Paris

Securities exchange

Thenational securities exchange(orBourse) was located at the Louvre between 10 May 1795 and 9 September 1795, in Anne of Austria's former summer apartment on the ground floor of the Petite Galerie.This followed nearly two years of closure during which off-exchange speculation onAssignatswent wild, after decades of operation of the Bourse in theHôtel de Neversfrom 24 September 1724 to 27 June 1793. In September 1795 the Bourse again closed for a few months; it reopened in January 1796 in theChurch of Notre-Dame-des-Victoireswhere it stayed until 1807.

Administrative office building

During theAncien Régime,administrative staff numbers in the machinery of government remained small and were dwarfed by the number of courtiers and domestic servants. That changed in the 19th century as the administrative arms of the state became increasingly significant, and the Louvre as a quintessential government building reflected that new reality. The installation of theConseil d'Étatin the Lemercier Wing between 1824 and 1832 was a first step, since that body has administrative as well as judiciary competencies.

The office footprint within the Louvre increased considerably withNapoleon III's expansion.The new North (Richelieu) Wing included offices for use by various ministries:

• Plans were made for the short-livedministère de l'Algérie et des Colonies(1858–1860)to be located in thePavillon de Rohanand the adjacent wing to the west, but that department was terminated before the office space was made available;
• Plans were also made to locate the Directorate of Telegraphs and relocate thenational printing officein the northern wing,but were not implemented.
• Most of the northern wing was used by theministère d'Etat,including the prestige apartment for the minister;
• Theministère de la Maison de l'Empereurwas separated from theministère d'Etatin 1860,and located in the spaces previously reserved for the Algeria Ministry;
• The short-livedministère des Beaux-Artsled byMaurice Richardfrom May to September 1870 was also located in the northern wing.Under theGovernment of National Defenseformed on 4 September 1870, the Fine Arts administration relocated to theHôtel de Rochechouartunder theMinistry of Public Instruction,where it remained until the formation of theMinistry of Culturein 1959.

On 29 May 1871, a mere few days after the Tuileries' fire, France's government headAdolphe Thiersattributed all administrative offices and barracks space in the Louvre's northern wing to theFrench Finance Ministry,whose buildings further west on therue de Rivolihad been entirely destroyed.The Finance Ministry remained there for more than a century, until the late 1980s. A meeting of finance ministers of theGroup of Sevencountries, hosted at the Louvre on 22 February 1987, gave its name to theLouvre Accord.

Further west, projects were made in the 1880s to relocate theNational Court of Audit(cour des comptes) – whose previous offices in thePalais d'Orsay,where theMusée d'Orsaynow stands, had also been burned down – in theAile de Marsanwhich had just been reconstructed and expanded by Lefuel. Only archives of the Court were deposited there in 1884, however,and these spaces were eventually attributed in 1897 to what is now theMusée des Arts Décoratifs.

TheMinistry of Colonieswas installed in the Flore Wing from 1893 to 1909.The museum then planned to expand into the Flore Wing but that was thwarted duringWorld War Ias the facility was used by the wartime bond issuance service.The Finance Ministry, together with theNational Lotteryit created in 1933, remained there and stayed until 1961.

The Louvre museum itself keeps offices in various parts of the building, e.g. in the former apartment of the Great Equerry (museum direction), on the top floors of thePavillon de l'Horloge,and in part of theentresolunder theGrande Galerie.

City Hall of Paris

After theParis City Hallwas arsoned at the end of the Commune in May 1871, the Municipal Council of Paris and Prefect of the Seine first moved to theLuxembourg Palaceacross the Seine, but they had to leave that building in 1878 as theFrench Senateprepared to move back from their previous temporary location in thePalace of Versailles,and relocated for several years in theaile de Floreof the Louvre.The new City Hall was formally inaugurated on 13 July 1882 but it took significantly longer to finish the interior works, with some ceremonial rooms only completed in 1906.While in the Louvre the Municipal Council's meetings were held in Napoleon III's unfinishedSalle des Etatsof thePavillon des Sessions,from 1878 to 1883. TheBibliothèque de l'hôtel de ville de Parisleft the Louvre in 1887 to its current City Hall location. The offices of the Prefecture and apartment of PréfetEugène Poubelleremained in the Pavillon de Flore until 1893, when they were replaced by the Ministry of Colonies, despite an 1883 order (décret) that had transferred the entireaile de Floreto the museum.

Sculpture garden

Carlo Marochetti'sDuke of Orléans,placed in 1845 in theCour Carréeand now atChâteau d'Eu

Antonin Mercié'sMeissonier,placed in 1895 in theJardin de l'Infante,now in Poissy

See also:Tuileries Garden

While the Louvre is rich witharchitectural sculpture,its position in the midst of a bustling city neighborhood was long unfavorable to the display of freestanding sculpture, with few exceptions that included the temporary display of a colossal statue ofVulcanin the Louvre's courtyard duringCharles V's visit in 1540.In the early 17th century, a bronze sculpture byFrancesco Bordoniwas erected at the center of the Queen's garden (jardin de la Reine), nowjardin de l'Infanteto the south of thePavillon du Roi.

During the 19th century, the Louvre's open spaces multiplied and the public taste for sculpture and monuments simultaneously increased. An early project was made in the late 1820s to place theGreat Sphinx of Tanisin the center of theCour Carrée,but was not implemented.

Instead, on 28 October 1845 an equestrian statue ofFerdinand Philippe, Duke of Orléanswas placed on that spot, itself a second cast of a monument byCarlo Marochettierected inAlgiersearlier that year. But that did not last long, and the statue was relocated to Versailles shortly after theRevolution of 1848(it was moved again in 1971 to its present location at theChâteau d'Eu).In the earlySecond Empire,plans were made to erect equestrian statues ofFrancis Iin the Cour Carrée andCharlemagneandNapoleonrespectively in the two squares of theCour Napoléon.A plaster model ofAuguste Clésinger's equestrian Francis I was placed in the Cour Carrée between December 1855 to February 1856, when it was transferred tothe Crystal PalaceonSydenham Hillin London.On 15 January 1863 Clésinger was also tasked to create the statue of Charlemagne, on which he worked until 1871. The statue of Napoleon was commissioned on 26 August 1862 from then-prominent sculptorEugène Guillaume,who apparently only produced several small-scale models.

Sculpted monuments mushroomed around the Louvre in the late 19th and early 20th century. Most of them were removed in 1933 on the initiative of Education MinisterAnatole de Monzie,due to changing tastes:

• Marble monument toFrançois BoucherbyJean-Paul Aubé(1890), in theJardin de la Colonnade,removed in 1933 and now at the Municipal Museum inLongwy
• Equestrian statue ofDiego VelázquezbyEmmanuel Frémiet(1892), in theJardin de la Colonnade,relocated in 1933 to theCasa de Velázquezin Madrid and destroyed during theSpanish Civil War
• Marble version of the group titledQuand même!,a celebration of the resistance ofBelfortduring theFranco-Prussian WarbyAntonin Mercié,installed in 1894 in theCarrousel Garden,removed in 1933 and now atFort Mont-Valérien
• Marble statue ofErnest MeissonierbyAntonin Mercié(1895), in theJardin de l'Infante,removed in 1966 and relocated in 1980 in theParc MeissonieratPoissy
• Monument toAuguste RaffetbyEmmanuel Frémiet(1896), in theJardin de la Colonnade,bronze parts melted in the early 1940s during theGerman occupation,the rest removed in 1966
• Bronze statue ofJean-Léon Gérômesculpting hisGladiators,byAimé Morot(1909), in theJardin de l'Oratoire,removed in 1967 and now at theMusée d'Orsay
• Marble statue ofParis during the War 1914–1918byAlbert Bartholomé(1921), removed in 1933 and kept in a damaged state in theBois de Vincennes

In 1907Étienne Dujardin-Beaumetz,then an undersecratary of state in charge of France's fine arts policy, fostered the creation of a sculpture garden in the western octagonal garden of theCour Napoléon,dubbed the "campo santo".The monumental bronze groupLe Temps et le Génie de l'ArtbyVictor Ségoffinwas placed in the center in 1908. Around it were allegorical and commemorative sculptures:

• The sons of Cain,bronze byPaul Landowski(1906), now in theTuileries Garden
• Architecture,Côte-d'Or stone,also by Landowski (1908), since 1933 onSaint-Nicaise HillinReims,
• Painting,marble byAimé Octobre(1909), now at theMusée de TesséinLe Mans
• Pierre de Montreuil,marble byHenri Bouchard(1909), since 1935 in a public garden next to theBasilica of Saint-Denis
• Michel Colombe,bronze byJean Boucher(1909), moved to Tours in 1933 and melted in 1942
• Puget,marble byFrançois-Léon Sicard(1910), since 1933 onPlace LeverrierinMarseille
• Poussin,marble byConstant Roux(1911), since 1934 inLes Andelys
• Hardouin-Mansart,bronze byErnest Henri Dubois(1908), since the 1930s at theJardin de l'IntendantofLes Invalides
• Watteau,marble byHenri-Édouard Lombard(1909), since 1937 in front of theMusée des Beaux-Arts de Valenciennes
• Houdon,marble byPaul Gasq(1909), since 1935 inLisieux
• Corot,marble byFrançois-Raoul Larche(1908), since 1935 inVille-d'Avray

Two more memorials, ofFrançois Rudeby Sicard andJean-Baptiste-Siméon Chardinby Larche, were commissioned but not completed.All these sculptures, except Landowski'sSons of Cain,were also removed in 1933. Ségoffin's group was transferred to the southern French town ofSaint-Gaudensin 1935, and melted down duringWorld War II.Landowski'sSons of Cainwas eventually moved in 1984 to its current location on theterrasse du bord de l'eauof theTuileries Garden.

In the eastern octagonal garden, anequestrian statue of La Fayette,byPaul Wayland Bartlett,was erected in 1908. This initiative had been sponsored in 1899 by American diplomat Robert John Thompson in gratitude of the French gift of theStatue of Liberty,and originally intended for a dedication atLafayette's grave at thePicpus Cemeteryduring theExposition Universelle (1900).In preparation for theGrand Louvreremodeling, the Lafayette monument was moved in 1985 to its current location on theCours-la-Reine.

In 1964, Culture MinisterAndré Malrauxdecided to install in theCarrousel Garden21 bronze sculptures byAristide Maillolwhich had been donated to the French state by the sculptor's former model and muse,Dina Vierny,including casts ofAir,Action in Chains,The Mountain,andThe River.The Maillol statues were rearranged during the overhaul of the garden in the 1990s.

Most recently, as part of the Grand Louvre project designed byI. M. Pei,a cast made in lead in 1986 of the marbleEquestrian statue of Louis XIVbyGian Lorenzo Berninihas been placed in theCour Napoléon,in front of theLouvre Pyramidand marking the end of Paris'sAxe historique.This was intended as a tribute to Bernini's past role as architect of the Louvre in 1664–1666, even though his plans were not executed.

• 
  Lafayette Monument in the Cour Napoléon, early 20th century
• 
  Landowski'sSons of Cainin the Cour Napoléon, 1968
• 
  Maillol'sLes Trois Grâces
• 
  Maillol'sL'Air
• 
  Maillol'sIle-de-France
• 
  Maillol'sMonument aux morts de Port-Vendres
• 
  Bernini'sLouis XIVin the Cour Napoléon

Research facility

The C2RMF's particle acceleratorAGLAE,located under theCour du Carrousel

TheLaboratoire du département des peintures du Musée du Louvrewas created in 1932 to support research on paintings and leverage new analysis techniques. In 1968 it became theLaboratoire de recherche des Musées de France,with a national mandate but still located at the Louvre. In 1998, this laboratory merged with theService de restauration des Musées de Franceto form theCenter for Research and Restoration of Museums of France(C2RMF), located in thePavillon de Flore.

Dining and shopping venue

Café Marlyand theCour Napoléon,photographed in 2010

The Louvre Palace is host to several restaurants and cafés. As of 2021, the most prominent is theCafé Marly,opened in 1994 in the Richelieu Wing with a terrace on theCour Napoléon,named after the Louvre's nearbyCour Marlyand designed byOlivier GagnèreIt was created by restaurateurGilbert Costeson aconcession contractfrom the museum.Inside the museum are theCafé Richelieu,opened in 1993 and designed byJean-Pierre RaynaudandDaniel Buren,andCafé Mollien,redesigned in 2016 by Mathieu Lehanneur;the intimateCafé Denonthat had opened in 1998 on a quiet corner of theCour Lefuelclosed in the 2010s.

Close to the Louvre Palace's northwestern tip, the restaurantLoulouopened in 2016 in theAile de Marsanwith a terrace on theCarrousel Garden,designed byJoseph Dirandand replacing a previous restaurant on the same spot,Le Saut du Loup.A high-end restaurant namedLe Grand Louvreopened in 1989 on the mezzanine of the Hall Napoléon, under theLouvre Pyramid,and was operated by chef Yves Pinard; its inaugural event was the dinner of the15th G7 summit.The undergroundCarrousel du Louvreshopping mall is home to fast food outlets grouped in one of the firstfood courtsin Paris, opened in 1993 and rebranded in 2009 asRestaurants du monde.

From 1608 to 1806, the ground floor of theGrande Galeriehosted a number of shops in which artists and artisans peddled their creations. They were closed by order ofNapoleon.Aside from museum shops, the Louvre experienced a revival of retail commercial activity with the opening in 1993 of theCarrousel du Louvreshopping mall, whose largest slot was initially leased by aVirgin Megastoreuntil 2012, and byPrintempssince 2014. France's firstApple Storewas also located there and operated from 2009 to 2018.

Chronological plan of the construction of the Louvre

The oldest part of the above-ground Louvre is the southwest corner of the square block that faces the center of Paris to the east. This corner section, consisting of theLescot Wing(1) and the north side of the western part of the south wing (2), was designed and constructed in the 16th century byPierre Lescot,who replaced the corresponding wings of the medieval Louvre (not shown). Later that century, the Petite Galerie (4) was added, connecting the Louvre to the section of thewall of Charles Vwhich ran along the north bank of the Seine toward theTuileries Palace(3, 5, 8, 11, 14; destroyed by fire in 1871). Around 1600, during the reign ofHenry IV,the wall along the river was replaced with the Grande Galerie (6, 7), which provided a covered passage from the Louvre to Tuileries Palace and later was the first part of the Louvre to become a museum. The Lescot Wing was expanded north with the Lemercier Wing (9) underLouis XIII,and in the second half of the 17th century, during the reign ofLouis XIV,the Petite Galerie was enlarged (10, 13) and the remaining wings around the Square Court (12, 16) were constructed, but not totally completed until the first part of the 19th century underNapoleon,who also added theArc du Carrousel(17) and parts of the north wing (17) along therue de Rivoli.Later in the 19th century, the north wing was slightly extended (18) byLouis XVIII.From 1852 to 1857,Napoleon IIIconnected the north wing to the buildings surrounding the Square Court with the Richelieu Wing (19, north part) and enlarged the Grande Galerie with the Denon Wing (19, south part). In 1861–1870 his architectHector Lefuelcarried out further work, replacing thePavillon de Floreand the western section of the Grande Galerie (7) and adding the Pavillon des Sessions (20, also known as the Pavillon des États). In 1874–1880 he replaced thePavillon de Marsan(15) and extended the south facade of the adjacent Marsan Wing (21).

Plan of Louvre and Tuileries by stage of construction

Plan of Louvre and Tuileries by stage of construction

		Time	King	Architect
1		1545–1549	Francis I,Henry II	Pierre Lescot
2		1559–1574	Francis II,Charles IX,Henry III	Pierre Lescot
3		1564–1570	Catherine de' Medici	Philibert Delorme
4		1566–1999	Catherine de' Medici	Pierre Lescot
5		1570–1572	Catherine de' Medici	Jean Bullant
6		1595–1610	Henry IV	Louis Métezeau
7		1595–1610	Henry IV	Jacques II Androuet du Cerceau
8		1595–1610	Henry IV	Jacques II Androuet du Cerceau
9		1624–1654	Louis XIII,Louis XIV	Jacques Lemercier
10		1653–1655	Louis XIV	Louis Le Vau
11		1659–1662	Louis XIV	Louis Le Vau,Carlo Vigarani
12		1659–1664	Louis XIV	Louis Le Vau
13		1661–1664	Louis XIV	Louis Le Vau
14		1664–1666	Louis XIV	Louis Le Vau
15		1664–1666	Louis XIV	Louis Le Vau
16		1667–1670	Louis XIV	Louis Le Vau,Claude Perrault,Charles Le Brun
17		1806–1811	Napoleon	Charles Percier,Pierre Fontaine
18		1816–1824	Louis XVIII	Pierre Fontaine
19		1852–1857	Napoleon III	Louis Visconti,Hector Lefuel
20		1861–1870	Napoleon III	Hector Lefuel
21		1874–1880	French Third Republic	Hector Lefuel

Photo gallery

• 
  French sculpture in the Cour Marly in the renovated Richelieu wing of the Grand Louvre, viewed toward the west
• 
  Panoramic view of the Cour Carrée, from the central courtyard fountain toward the west
• 
  The Cour Carrée of the "Old Louvre" looking west (Left to right: Aile Lescot, Pavillon Sully (de l'Horloge), Aile Lemercier)
• 
  The Louvre Palace looking west across the Cour Napoleon and theLouvre Pyramid
• 
  Pavillon de Flore as seen from the Tuileries Garden

See also

• Palais de la Cité
• Versailles Palace

References

• Ayers, Andrew (2004).The Architecture of Paris.Stuttgart; London: Edition Axel Menges.ISBN9783930698967.
• Ballon, Hilary (1991).The Paris of Henri IV: Architecture and Urbanism.Cambridge, Massachusetts: The MIT Press.ISBN978-0-262-02309-2.
• Berger, Robert W. (1993).The Palace of the Sun: The Louvre of Louis XIV.University Park: The Pennsylvania State University Press.ISBN9780271008479.
• Berty, Adolphe(1868).Topographie historique du vieux Paris. Région du Louvre et des Tuileries. Tome 2.Paris: Imprimerie Impériale.CopyatGallica.
• Bezombes, Dominique, editor (1994).The Grand Louvre: History of a Project.Paris: Moniteur.ISBN9782281190793.
• Biasini, Émile; Lebrat, Jean; Bezombes, Dominique; Vincent, Jean-Michel (1989).The Grand Louvre: A Museum Transfigured 1981–1993.Paris: Electa Moniteur.ISBN9782866530662.
• Blunt, Anthony;Beresford, Richard (1999).Art and architecture in France, 1500–1700.New Haven: Yale University Press.ISBN0-300-07748-3.
• Bresc-Bautier, Genevieve (1995).The Louvre: An Architectural History.New York: The Vendome Press.ISBN9780865659636.
• Briggs, Keith (2008)."The Domesday Book castle LVVRE".Journal of the English Place-Name Society,vol. 40, pp. 113–118. Retrieved 16 February 2013.
• Christ, Yvan (1949).Le Louvre et les Tuileries: Histoire architecturale d'un double palais.[Paris]: Éditions "Tel".OCLC1122966.
• Edwards, Henry Sutherland (1893).Old and New Paris: Its History, Its People, and Its Places.Paris: Cassell.ViewatGoogle Books.Retrieved 30 April 2008.
• Hanser, David A. (2006).Architecture of France.Westport, Connecticut: Greenwood Press.ISBN9780313319020.
• Hautecoeur, Louis (1940).Histoire du Louvre: Le Château – Le Palais – Le Musée, des origines à nos jours, 1200–1940,2nd edition. Paris: Administration provisoire d'imprimerie.OCLC433847563,174906288.
• Lowry, Bates(1956).Palais du Louvre, 1528–1624: The Development of a Sixteenth-Century Architectural Complex(thesis/dissertation). University of Chicago.OCLC214308093.ProQuest
• Mignot, Claude (1999).The Pocket Louvre: A Visitor's Guide to 500 Works.New York: Abbeville Press.ISBN0789205785.
• Ochterbeck, Cynthia Clayton, editor (2009).The Green Guide Paris,pp. 168–201. Greenville, South Carolina: Michelin Maps and Guides.ISBN9781906261375.
• Sauval, Henri(1724).Histoire et recherches des antiquités de la ville de Paris,vol. 2, Paris: C. Moette and J. Chardon.CopyatGoogle Books.
• Sturdy, David (1995).Science and social status: the members of the Académie des sciences 1666–1750.Woodbridge, Suffolk, U.K.: Boydell Press.ISBN085115395X.PreviewatGoogle Books.

External links

• Media related toPalais du Louvreat Wikimedia Commons
• Base Mérimée:Palais du Louvre et jardin des Tuileries,Ministère français de la Culture.(in French)
• A virtual visit of the Louvre
• Panoramic view of the pyramid and the Cour Napoléon