Paris - Musée du Louvre

Ah.. One of my favorite or should I say, my favorite spot in Paris? Long before the Da Vinci Code brought the Louvre into focus, I have dreamed of visiting it… They don’t say dream hard for nothing… what do you know.. I am living in the city of the Louvre! By large the most famous museum in the world, it houses some of the most famous works of art, most notably the Mona Lisa or the La Jaconde as she is called here in Paris, by Leonardo Da Vinci.

It is located right in the most famous district in Paris and flanks one end of Avenue de Champs Élysées while the Arc de Triomphe forms the other end. It is easily reached by Metro 1 which indeed forms the backbone to seeing the most famous sights in Paris. Here’s the wiki page on The Louvre. And this is a picture of the trademark Metropolitain sign as one exits the station Palais Royale Musée du Louvre.

The origin of the name itself is supposed to mean “Masterpiece” in one adaption and it has certainly been named appropriately. The façade of the Louvre is as imposing as it is on the inside. The famous glass pyramids are found inside the compound. But before we go in, here’s a view of one of the marvelous wings of the Louvre on the outside.

And one of the imposing grounds from inside the museum

Leading from the Champs Élysées through the Jardin Tulieres, the Louvre spans more than 1.5 km in length, which is very imposing by itself and has a horse-shoe shaped formation of 3 buildings forming the entire museum. This is a panorama of the outer façade of the museum and this one’s off the internet (I haven’t gotten into shooting panoramas yet)

Breathtaking, isn’t it? The entrance to the museum is through the main glass pyramid and leads down a spiral flight of stairs underground where one buys the 11€ tickets – completely worth every penny considering the mammoth collections that one gets to see. Here’s a picture of what lies beneath –

The Louvre is split into 3 wings – the Denon Wing (most famous for housing the Mona Lisa), the Sully wing (most famous for the Venus d’ Milo) and the Richelieu Wing.. The third most famous piece of art in the museum is the Winged Glory of Samothrace and indeed these 3 works form the famous Louvre Lite which are the only main 3 works that hurried or disinterested patrons visit. A synopsis of the Louvre Lite –

But they are missing a whole lot by not doing the span of the museum. The first time I was there, I spent close to 7 hours in the museum alone and maybe bored S into reconsideration of our association… But it is phenomenal and houses some of the most famed Michelangelo frescos, Rembrandt paintings amongst many others. And what’s more… At any given time, there is some exhibition or the other going on. For example, they had this Impressionist Movement theme a few days back and an Egyptian Culture exhibition before that and each of this is fascinating to the Art Lover. Here’s a few shots from one of the rich walls at the Louvre –

And some ceiling art –

The pyramid and the entire exterior of the Louvre inside the horseshoe is far prettier by twilight or night rather than by day when the daylight does nothing to reflect off the triangular panes on the pyramid. Indeed by night, the light bouncing off the water and the pyramids alone warrants a special trip to the Louvre after hours… sheerly for sightseeing –

Inside the Denon Wing, the Grand Gallery holds most fame. The single largest corridor within the museum and home to the dead-end room, the Salle de Etats which houses the Mona Lisa makes it a thing of epics. But its nowhere as exciting or huge as is described in Dan Brown’s Da Vinci Code. Yes, the parquet floors are attractive and the gallery tasteful… but so’s the rest of the museum. Here, see for yourself-

Another feature that is famous is the inverted pyramid. Admittedly, no one seems to see reason behind these bizarre structures. But they do make for good photo ops.

What makes the Louvre fun for the common man is that at any given time, you can see apprentices or artists just settled out there with their paints and easels painting away and reproducing masterpieces. We caught a few of them at work on our last visit there…

And I bet that to the untrained eye, the reproductions look every bit as darned good as the Masters themselves… See what I mean? The one on the left is a work in progress while the one on the right is the original hanging off one of the walls of the Louvre.

Why should you go to the Louvre?
To see what the fuss is about. And I bet you’ll see it. If you’re not that impressed with the Mona Lisa, that’s pretty normal. She is small.. And they’ve cordoned her off so you really can’t see her close enough. Of course these days you are allowed to take as many pictures as you like of her or any other piece of art which sort of takes the fantasy away (check my blog on that here) but what the hell… If not the Mona Lisa something’s got to impress you… whether it’s one of the sacrophages or one of the other Da Vincis or just the sheer mammoth collection. It’s definitely something you are missing if you’re in Paris and you ain’t done it.

And last and definitely the least, I leave you with an image of something that has nothing to do with the Louvre - The Smart Car for those Dan Brown fans -