The Louvre, once a royal palace, bears witness to eight centuries of French history. From the time of its founding in 1793, the museum was intended to be universal. Its collections, among the finest in the world, span several thousand years and an area stretching from America to the confines of Asia.
The Louvre began as a fortress with thick defensive walls, built in 1190 during the reign of Philippe Auguste. It became a royal residence in 1364 and was modified over the centuries according to changing styles and royal preferences. The Grande Galerie was built between 1595 and 1610, during the reign of Henri IV.
In 1791, during the French Revolution, it was decreed that the Louvre should become a museum of the arts. The Muséum Central des Arts was inaugurated in 1793, and thereafter the palace was increasingly given over to the museum collections and their display to the public. From 1981 to 1989, the Pyramid project focused on putting visitors at the heart of the museum and its collections. The Department of Islamic Art was inaugurated in 2012. The opening of the new rooms of the Department of Byzantine and Eastern Christian Art is scheduled for 2027.
The Louvre is a universal museum with nine curatorial departments: Egyptian Antiquities; Near Eastern Antiquities; Greek, Etruscan and Roman Antiquities; Paintings; Sculptures; Decorative Arts; Prints and Drawings; Islamic Art; and now Byzantine and Eastern Christian Art. Some 30,000 works of art are on display, including world-famous masterpieces such as the Winged Victory of Samothrace, the Seated Scribe, the Winged Bulls of Khorsabad, the Mona Lisa and Michelangelo’s Slaves, and parts of the palace, such as the Napoleon III Apartments, are works of art in their own right.
In front of the palace is the Tuileries Garden, created during the Renaissance by Catherine de’ Medici, and a few miles away, at the heart of Saint-Germain-des-Prés, is another museum managed by the Louvre – the Musée Eugène-Delacroix, housed in the painter’s last apartment.
KEY FIGURES
The collections
- More than 30, 000 exhibited artworks out of nearly 500, 000 held by museum
- 9 departments: Near Eastern Antiquities; Egyptian Antiquities; Greek, Etruscan and Roman Antiquities; Islamic Art; Decorative Arts; Sculptures; Paintings; Prints and Drawings; Byzantine and Eastern Christian Art
- Nearly 30, 000 works on long-term loan throughout France
- About 10 temporary exhibitions per year
The visitors
8.9 million visitors in 2023,
- 32% from France
- 13% from the USA
- A large number of visitors from Europe (Italy 7%, Germany and UK 5%, Spain 4%)
- 51 % under 30 years old
- 40% benefitted from free admission
The staff
2, 213 employees work at the Musée du Louvre
- 69 curators
- 9 department directors
- 254 curatorial staff
- 103 staff in the museum workshops
- 1, 285 reception and security staff
- 52 firefighters on duty 24/7
The Palace
- 244,000 m² of flooring
- 3,000 metres of façade (total lenght, including courtyards)
- 70, 000 m² of exhibition spaces
- 403 rooms
- 14,5 km of rooms and corridors
The Pyramid
- 603 diamond-shaped and 70 triangular glass segments
- 21 metres high and 34 metres wide at the base
- 95 tons of steel,105 tons of aluminium
The Cour Napoléon
- 28, 000 m² of surface area
- 650, 000 sandstone and granite paving stones
The Public Establishment of the Musée du Louvre also includes:
- The Musée National Eugène-Delacroix (since 2004)
- The Tuileries Garden (since 2005)
- The Louvre Conservation Centre (inaugurated in 2019 in Liévin, northern France)
