The New Normal - Richard's 70th Birthday Celebration in Paris, France, part 3, Louvre

Bonjour!  Part three our trip to France ... 

MASSIVE.HUGH.GIGANTIC.VAST.ENORMOUS.GRAND.IMPRESSIVE

are all synonyms to describe the size of the Louvre, both the building and the collection. Visiting the world's largest museum was what I was most looking forward to on our trip to Paris.  After waiting in a long line in the rain, we entered the facility and spent much of a day there.  

Waiting in the rain to buy tickets

The rain made this balcony view even prettier

Sculpted garden in one of the courtyards

Richard under the Arc de Triomphe du Carrousel, in the courtyard of the Louvre

The 16th century building, called the Palais du Louvre, is a former 12th century fortress turned royal palace by Francis I in 1546. In 1682, when Louis XIV decided to move to the Palace of Versailles, the Louvre was left solely to house the royal collection of art. Finally, during the French revolution, it was decided that the Louvre would be the permanent home of France's master works. 

Mona Lisa, by DeVinci
Mona was under glass, so we couldn't as close to her as we wanted

Giuseppe Arcimboldo, 1573
One of a series of his Four Seasons seen below
Richard loves all works of art depicting the seasons

Antonio Campi, 1569, Les Mysteres de la Passion du Christ
One of my favorites in the Louvre; detail below from upper right corner

  
     

Giovanni Paolo Pannini, 1729
A musical concert scene (another fav of mine), close up below

  

The Louvre officially opened in 1793 with 537 paintings, largely owned by the church. Today the museum houses 35,000 works of art and 380,000 objects, with 650,000 square feet on four floors dedicated to the collection. The entire facility is over 2 million square feet covering over 50 acres.

The Winged Victory of Samothrace,
2nd century BC (the statue, not the man)

Central courtyards show outdoor statues
from 17th and 18th centuries

    

Above:  St. Louis chess set, 15th Century, crystal-quartz-silver, 8 compartments containing civilian and military tiny figures are arranged on the periphery; this is one cool chess set!

There is one whole section of Egyptian antiquities

I like old feet

The large glass and metal pyramid entryway was added in 1989, and is surrounded by three smaller glass pyramids. There are many who criticize the design of the pyramid(s) for a variety of reasons, but I thought they were very cool looking.

One of the smaller glass pyramids in the courtyard;
All four are seen in the photo below

Judy enjoying the courtyard despite the rain

Richard inside  tip of a glass pyramid

Inside tip of a glass pyramid

Although our short visit only allowed for a cursory glance of the massive Louvre collection, we got to see paintings by the masters, archaeological finds, sculptures and other artistic objects. The Louvre is truly an extraordinary museum, even the desserts in the Angelina cafe are works of art!

 Part four, the finale, coming soon . . .