IO – Louvre or the Musee du Louvre is a former building of the French royal palace that is now one of the largest museums in the world and at the same time the most famous museum in the world. The Museum that was established on August 10, 1793, is a museum that is most visited by foreign tourists from around the world. The Louvre Museum is housed in the Rive Droite of the Seine, Arrondissement, Paris, annually visited by over 8 million tourists. Until now, in the museum there are nearly 35,000 works of art objects from the year 6000 BC to the 19th century exhibited over an area of 60,600 square meters.
Upon the arrival of our Independent Observer team at the Louvre museum, we passed a Louvre Pyramid or the so-called ‘Pyramide du Louvre’. A large glass and steel pyramid that is surrounded by three smaller pyramids. The Great Pyramid also serves as the main entrance to the Louvre museum. This futuristic building idea was derived from the current French President, Francois Mitterrand, and completed in 1986 by American-Chinese architect IM Pei, who successfully combines classic and modern style buildings. At first, the final result of this building generated a lot of controversies, because it brings together something contrasting. But over time, the Louvre pyramid now is included as one very famous landmark in Paris apart from the Eiffel Tower.
In this museum masterpiece paintings of Leonardo da Vinci’s ‘Mona Lisa’ is exhibited. Monalisa’s painting depicts a half-body relatively young woman sitting on a chair, crossing her arms. What makes it interesting is the controversial opinions of art experts regarding the Mona Lisa smile, many argue that the smile in this picture has a mysterious value. This oil painting is protected by thick bulletproof glass that is able to control the temperature inside. On August 21, 1911, this painting was once stolen by an Italian museum employee, Vincenso Peruggia and hidden in his home in Paris for 2 years before being brought back to Italy for sale, but in 1913 he was arrested. The Italian people actually think Peruggia is a hero for being able to ‘repatriate’ Monalisa to it’s home country. Monalisa and Louvre Pyramid has becoming increasingly popular to the world after its release into the story and film The Da Vinci Code in 2006. The story of the film is an adaptation of the book of the same title, a work of American author Dan Brown. Both of these works hold an important role in the story of The Da Vinci Code.
In addition to the Mona Lisa, the Louvre also has many other masterpieces that are no less interesting. There is a statue of Venus de Milo, or Aphrodite de Milo. Sculpture found on the island of Greece by Yorgos Kentrotas Milo which is expected to be made 100 years BC by sculptor Alexandros of Antioch created to honor the Greek goddess of love, Aphrodite. The 2 meter tall statue is notable as both its hands are lost. There is also a statue, Great Sphinx of Tanis. Granite sculpture that was created about 4500 years ago, and is touted as the largest sphinx that is outside of Egypt.
The painting that will steal your attention is the painting ‘The Coronation of Napoleon’. It has been reported Napoleon himself who told the artist Jacques-Louis David to paint with a length of nearly 10 meters. The artist took 3 years to complete this oil painting. This painting was stored at the Chateau de Versailles before on display at the Louvre museum.
If you want to go on vacation to France, do not miss some very famous attractions such as the Eiffel Tower, Saint Michel, the Grand Palais, Secre Coeur Basilica and the Cathedral of Notre Dame Bataclan.
The Louvre Museum is open every day at 9am and closes at 6pm on Monday, Thursday, Saturday and Sunday, for Wednesday and Friday it closes at 9.45pm. On Tuesday, the museum is closed to visitors. Admission tickets to the Louvre Museum, can be purchased online at a price of 17 euros or the on the spot in the museum at a price of 15 euros. (chester)