{"id":7222,"date":"2015-05-18T10:28:24","date_gmt":"2015-05-18T09:28:24","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog.traveleurope.com\/en\/?p=7222"},"modified":"2015-05-18T10:53:51","modified_gmt":"2015-05-18T09:53:51","slug":"interesting-facts-about-the-louvre","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blog.traveleurope.com\/en\/interesting-facts-about-the-louvre\/","title":{"rendered":"20 Interesting Facts About The Louvre"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Louvre is not only the largest museum in the world, but also one of the most esteemed. Arguably it\u2019s Paris\u2019 most visited attraction<\/a> as it sees over 9.3 million visitors a year \u2013 which is no mean feat. Its collection of 35,000 priceless masterpieces, antiques and classic and contemporary makes it one of the most vast art galleries for its breadth of subjects, ranging from the 6th century BC to the 19th century.<\/p>\n

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  1. The Louvre is the biggest museum in the world<\/strong> \u2013 it\u2019s so big that it\u2019s actually impossible to see all of the museum in one visit<\/li>\n
  2. It would actually take you 100 days to see every piece of art<\/strong> in the Louvre, if you spent 30 seconds at each piece, all day every day for 100 days\u2026<\/li>\n
  3. The Musee du Louvre was never originally a museum, it was actually a fortress<\/strong> built in 1190.\u00a0The Louvre was turned from a fortress into a royal palace<\/strong> in the 16th<\/sup> century<\/li>\n
  4. In 1793, after the French monarchy had moved out to Palace of Versailles, the first Louvre Museum opened with a collection of only 537 paintings<\/li>\n
  5. Under Napoleon\u2019s reign the museum was renamed Mus\u00e9e Napoleon<\/em> and he expanded the collection before over 5,000 pieces were returned to their original owners once he was defeated<\/li>\n
  6. The Mona Lisa is one of the most famous pieces of art in the Louvre and is so valuable it\u2019s even protected with bullet proof glass<\/strong> and has its own body guards. It was however stolen in 1911 before being returned to the museum 2 years later!\u00a0The Mona Lisa isn\u2019t as big as everyone thinks, its dimensions are actually 21 x 30 inches (53 x 77 cms) \u2013 slightly bigger than an A2 piece of paper<\/li>\n
  7. Now, the Louvre contains about 7,500 paintings<\/strong>, of which about 66% are by French artists<\/li>\n
  8. The Louvre\u2019s galleries are displayed over 652,300 square feet<\/strong> \u2013 nearly 15 acres \u2013 and are divided into eight departments: Near Eastern Antiquities, Egyptian Antiquities, Greek, Etruscan and Roman Antiquities, Islamic Art, Sculptures, Decorative Arts, Paintings, and Prints and Drawings.<\/li>\n
  9. The Louvre wasn\u2019t always used as a museum, as we know, but during\u00a0World War II the Nazis used the Louvre as a storeroom for stolen art<\/strong><\/li>\n
  10. If you believe in ghosts, there\u2019s a mummy called Belphegor who is said to haunt the museum. The nearby Tuileries Gardens are also said to be haunted by a man dressed in red.<\/li>\n
  11. The Louvre\u2019s glass pyramid was built in 1989<\/strong> and is a 21m high structure made entirely of glass and metal. It has now has become one of the city\u2019s most recognisable landmarks.\u00a0There was some controversy about I.M. Pei, the architect of the glass pyramid, who was the first non-French architect to work on the Louvre.\u00a0The glass pyramid is actually one of four, with three smaller glass pyramids surrounding it in the courtyard, Cour Napoleon.<\/li>\n
  12. The Louvre is the most popular museum in the world<\/strong> welcoming over 15,000\u00a0visitors per day, 70%\u00a0of whom are foreign tourists<\/li>\n
  13. The Axe historique<\/em> is a 5km architectural line of monuments running through central Paris to the west \u2013 the Louvre is nucleus, in the middle of the Arc de Triomphe, the Grand Arche of La Defense and the obelisk of the Place de la Concorde<\/li>\n
  14. The Louvre Museums extend outside of the confines of the 16th<\/sup> century palace and museum, it even joins onto the Mus\u00e9e National Eug\u00e8ne-Delacroix and fronts onto Paris\u2019 oldest park, the Tuileries Gardens<\/li>\n
  15. The Louvre has over 380,000 pieces<\/strong> in total in its collections \u2013 just not all are on show\u2026<\/li>\n
  16. Under Napoleon\u2019s rule, he took the Mona Lisa and hung it in his private bedroom. The only other time she hasn\u2019t hung in the Louvre was when Jaqueline Kennedy arranged for the Mona Lisa to tour museums in New York and Washington DC.<\/li>\n
  17. There are to be two Louvre Museums in the world, the second one will be the Louvre Abu Dhabi \u2013 the first universal museum in the Arab World \u2013 to be completed in 2015<\/li>\n
  18. Mona Lisa\u2019s smile and identity has been a source of debate for centuries \u2013 but no one can come to a decision about who she is or why she is smiling that way. Some say she the wife of Francesco del Giocondo, others say she\u2019s a self-portrait and an allusion to Leonardo da Vinci\u2019s\u00a0 presumed homosexuality.\u00a0The Mona Lisa\u2019s real name is La Gioconda in Italian \u2013 which could refer to the name of the wife of Franceso del Giocondo<\/li>\n
  19. One of the other famous paintings in the Louvre is the Liberty Leading the People <\/em>by Eugene Delacroix whose painting celebrates the 1830 Revolution. It was designed as a political poster and Delacroix even painted himself into the picture as the man on the left in the top hat!<\/li>\n
  20. In 2014 the museum welcomed over 9.3 million visitors<\/strong> \u2013 the most people it has ever welcomed since opening<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

    To champion this popular museum and art gallery, the team at The Paris Pass<\/a> decided to look at the 20 most fascinating facts about the Louvre to serve as a reminder of why this museum is one of the best museums in the whole world.<\/p>\n

    \"20<\/p>\n

    The Louvre is a museum rich with culture, history and heritage and a visit to the museum will leave you enlightened and inspired. From the iconic Mona Lisa and her enigmatic smile, to the modern glass pyramid in the courtyard, the Louvre Museum is famous for both past and present \u2013 and you won\u2019t be disappointed!<\/p>\n

    Now that you know everything about the Louvre why not browse our fine selection of\u00a0Louvre Tours<\/a>:<\/p>\n