Escalier Daru

Escalier Daru with theWinged Victory of Samothracein the background

TheEscalier Daru(Daru Staircase), also referred to asEscalier de la Victoire de Samothrace,is one of the largest and most iconic interior spaces of theLouvre PalaceinParis,and of theLouvreMuseum within it. Named afterPierre, Count Daru,a minister ofNapoleon,and initially designed in the 1850s byHector-Martin Lefuelas part ofNapoleon III's Louvre expansion,it received its currentStripped Classicismappearance in the early 1930s. Since 1883, its focal point has been theWinged Victory of Samothrace,one of the highlights of the Louvre's collections.

Background

The Escalier Daru is the last in a series of increasingly monumental staircases built to serve this area of the Louvre building. In 1722, as the old Queen Mother's apartment on the ground floor of thePetite Galeriewas being prepared to be the residence ofMariana Victoria of Spainthe betrothed ofLouis XV,a staircase was built to lead directly into theSalon Carréon the upper level, dubbedEscalier de l'Infanteafter Mariana Victoria. Following the ending of the engagement and her return to Spain after just three years, the Salon Carré became the venue for the yearly art show of theAcadémie des Beaux-Arts- thus the wordSalonfor such shows. Visitors would use theEscalier de l'Infanteto access the Salon from theCour de la Reine,later known asCour du Sphinxand covered with a glass ceiling in 1934.

Shortly before his death in 1780, Louvre architectJacques-Germain Soufflotdesigned a new staircase in the context of intensive planning for the creation of a public museum in the Louvre'sGrande Galerie.Soufflot's design was implemented from 1781 by his successorMaximilien Brébion.The new staircase orEscalier du Salon,which replaced theEscalier de l'Infante,opened on the ground floor on theCour de la Reinethat was intended to become the entrance of the museum, and led to what is now theSalle Duchâtelon the upper floor, immediately to the north of the Salon Carré in Le Vau's wing doubling the Petite Galerie to the west.

Following the first opening of the Louvre Museum in 1793 and its reorganization underNapoleonin the early 1800s, the museum's main entrance was established further north, through theRotonde de Marson what is now the southeastern corner of the Cour Napoléon. To suitably lead visitors from there to the highlights of the museum's collection in theGrande Galerie,Napoleon's architectsCharles PercierandPierre Fontainedesigned a monumental staircase, soon dubbed theEscalier Percier et Fontaine,that started next to theRotonde de Marsand led straight to the Salon Carré. The structural work was completed in 1807,but the lavish decoration designed byPercier and Fontainetook many more years and was only completed under their supervision during theBourbon Restoration.

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  The Louvre's first floor in 1756 (Blondel plan) showing the Salon Carré (marked "T" ), with theEscalier de l'Infantein its northwestern corner
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  The Louvre's ground floor in 1780 (1895 reproduction) showing Brébion'sEscalier du Salon
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  The Louvre's ground floor in 1836 (byTheodor Josef Hubert Hoffbauer,1870s) showing theEscalier Percier et Fontaineflanking theRotonde de Mars(marked "C" )
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  Lefuel's plan for the Escalier Daru (ground floor), photographed byÉdouard Baldus
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  Sketch of theSalonin 1753 byGabriel de Saint-Aubin,with visitors climbing theEscalier de l'Infantein the foreground
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  Napoleonvisiting theEscalier Percier & Fontaineunder construction, byAuguste Couder
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  Columns and ceiling decorations of theEscalier Percier & Fontaine,preserved by Lefuelin situin today'sSalle Percier et FontaineandSalle Duchâtel

Lefuel's creation

In the context ofNapoleon III's Louvre expansion,Lefuel created a new entrance for the museum, west of the earlier one, on the ground floor of thePavillon Denon.From there, two monumental galleries led west and east and were to end with monumental staircases. At the western end, that was a new staircase named, like the gallery that led to it and the pavilion in which it stood, afterNicolas François, Count Mollien,another of Napoleon's ministers. At the eastern end, Lefuel initially wanted to keep Percier & Fontaine's staircase for its aesthetic value, but was overruled by Napoleon IIIor by his State MinisterAchille Fould,who insisted on a new staircase aligned with the new composition. Lefuel had presented eight successive projects to preserve Percier and Fontaine's ensemble, but eventually gave up and dismantled most of it in 1865 to give way to the new one.Even so, he was able to preserve some of the ceilings and columns of Percier and Fontaine's upper level, in the first-floor rooms that are now between the Escalier Daru and the Salon Carré, now known as theSalle Percier et Fontaine.

Later developments

The Escalier Daru was still unfinished at the end of theSecond Empire.Its current focal point, theWinged Victory of Samothrace,was only placed at its center after Lefuel's death in 1880. The sculpture had been found inSamothracein 1863, and shipped to Paris in 1879. It was installed in the Daru Staircase in 1883.

In 1882, Lefuel's successorEdmond Guillaumestarted making plans for the completion of the staircase. A team of Italian specialists created colorful mosaics for the vaulted ceilings, representing Victories holding palms and portraits of illustrious figures,on a design by painterJules-Eugène Lenepveu.

Jules-Eugène Lenepveu,La Grèce, Rome, l’Égypte et l’Assyrie,1887-1888 (preparatory drawing for the decoration of the Escalier Daru).

The final completion was designed by Louvre architectCamille Lefèvreand his successor from 1930 Albert Ferran, in theArt Decostyle of the times, and executed in 1932-1934 as part of a broader museum modernization effort led by Louvre DirectorHenri Verne.Ferran covered the mosaics with stone-patterned wallpaper, broadened the stairs, and brought forward the Winged Victory to make it more prominent.

In 1997, in the third phase of theGrand Louvreproject, the Escalier Daru was extended downwards to serve the newly opened gallery ofArchaic Greece,in what had formerly been part of the Louvre's extensive complex of mid-19th-century horse stables.

In the early 2010s, as the Winged Victory was temporarily removed for restoration, the option of uncovering the late-19th-century mosaics was considered. But it was eventually rejected by the Louvre's curators, and the staircase was kept in its mid-1930s state.