The building was redesigned and extended many times to form the present Louvre Palace. In 1682,Louis XIV chose thePalace of Versailles for his household, leaving the Louvre primarily as a place to display the royal collection, including, from 1692, a collection of ancient Greek and Roman sculpture.[6] In 1692, the building was occupied by theAcadémie des Inscriptions et Belles-Lettres and theAcadémie Royale de Peinture et de Sculpture, which in 1699 held the first of a series ofsalons. The Académie remained at the Louvre for 100 years.[7] During theFrench Revolution, theNational Assembly decreed that the Louvre should be used as a museum to display the nation's masterpieces. The palace and exhibition space was expanded in the 19th century and again in the 20th.
The museum opened on 10 August 1793 with an exhibition of 537 paintings, the majority of the works being royal and confiscated church property. Because of structural problems with the building, the museum was closed from 1796 until 1801. The collection was increased underNapoleon, after theNapoleonic looting of art in Europe, Egypt, and Syria, and the museum was renamedMusée Napoléon, but after Napoleon's abdication, many works seized by his armies were returned to their original owners.[citation needed] The collection was further increased during the reigns ofLouis XVIII andCharles X, and during theSecond French Empire the museum gained 20,000 pieces. Holdings have grown steadily through donations and bequests since theThird Republic. The collection is divided among eight curatorial departments:Egyptian Antiquities;Near Eastern Antiquities;Greek,Etruscan, andRoman Antiquities;Islamic Art; Sculpture;Decorative Arts; Paintings; Prints and Drawings.
The Musée du Louvre contains approximately 500,000 objects[8] and displays 35,000 works of art in eight curatorial departments with more than 60,600 m2 (652,000 sq ft) dedicated to the permanent collection.[2] The Louvre exhibits sculptures,objets d'art, paintings, drawings, and archaeological finds. At any given point in time, approximately 38,000 objects from prehistory to the 21st century are being exhibited over an area of 72,735 m2 (782,910 sq ft), making it thelargest museum in the world. It received 8.7 million visitors in 2024, 200,000 less than 2023, due largely to competition from the2024 Paris Olympics. In 2023 it was themost-visited museum in the world, ahead of theVatican Museums.[9][10]
Before theGrand Louvre overhaul of the late 1980s and 1990s, the Louvre had several street-level entrances, most of which are now permanently closed. Since 1993, the museum's main entrance has been the underground space under theLouvre Pyramid, orHall Napoléon, which can be accessed from the Pyramid itself, from the underground Carrousel du Louvre, or (for authorized visitors) from thepassage Richelieu connecting to the nearbyrue de Rivoli. A secondary entrance at thePorte des Lions, near the western end of the Denon Wing, was created in 1999 but is not permanently open.[12]
The museum's entrance conditions have varied over time. Prior to the 1850s, artists and foreign visitors had privileged access. At the time of initial opening in 1793, theFrench Republican calendar had imposed ten-day "weeks" (French:décades), the first six days of which were reserved for visits by artists and foreigners and the last three for visits by the general public.[13]: 37 In the early 1800s, after the seven-day week had been reinstated, the general public had only four hours of museum access per weeks, between 2pm and 4pm on Saturdays and Sundays.[14]: 8 In 1824, a new regulation allowed public access only on Sundays and holidays; the other days the museum was open only to artists and foreigners, except for closure on Mondays.[13]: 39 That changed in 1855 when the museum became open to the public all days except Mondays.[13]: 40 It was free until 1922, when an entrance fee was introduced except on Sundays.[13]: 42 Since its post-World War II reopening in 1946,[13]: 43 the Louvre has been closed on Tuesdays, and habitually open to the public the rest of the week except for some holidays.
The use of cameras and video recorders is permitted inside, but flash photography is forbidden.[15]
Beginning in 2012,Nintendo 3DS portable video game systems were used as the official museum audio guides. The following year, the museum contracted Nintendo to create a 3DS-based audiovisual visitor guide.[16] EntitledNintendo 3DS Guide: Louvre, it contains over 30 hours of audio and over 1,000 photographs of artwork and the museum itself, including 3D views,[17] and also provides navigation thanks todifferential GPS transmitters installed within the museum.[18]
The upgraded 2013 Louvre guide was also announced in a specialNintendo Direct featuringSatoru Iwata andShigeru Miyamoto demonstrating it at the museum,[19] and 3DS XLs pre-loaded with the guide are available to rent at the museum.[20] As of August 2023, there are virtual tours through rooms and galleries accessible online.
TheLouvre Palace, which houses the museum, was begun byKing Philip II in the late 12th century to protect the city from the attack from the West, as theKingdom of England still heldNormandy at the time. Remnants of theMedieval Louvre are still visible in the crypt.[21]: 32 Whether this was the first building on that spot is not known, and it is possible that Philip modified an existing tower.[22]
The origins of the name "Louvre" are somewhat disputed. According to the authoritativeGrand Larousse encyclopédique, the name derives from an association with awolf hunting den (via Latin:lupus, lower Empire:lupara).[22][23] In the 7th century,Burgundofara (also known as Saint Fare), abbess in Meaux, is said to have given part of her "Villa called Luvra situated in the region of Paris" to a monastery,[24] even though it is doubtful that this land corresponded exactly to the present site of the Louvre.
The Louvre Palace has been subject to numerous renovations since its construction. In the 14th century,Charles V converted the building from its military role into a residence. In 1546,Francis I started its rebuilding inFrench Renaissance style.[25] After Louis XIV chose Versailles as his residence in 1682, construction works slowed to a halt. The royal move away from Paris resulted in the Louvre being used as a residence for artists, under Royal patronage.[25][21]: 42 [26] For example, four generations of craftsmen-artists from the Boulle family were granted Royal patronage and resided in the Louvre.[27][28][29]
Meanwhile, the collections of the Louvre originated in the acquisitions of paintings and other artworks by the monarchs of theHouse of France. At thePalace of Fontainebleau, Francis collected art that would later be part of the Louvre's art collections, includingLeonardo da Vinci'sMona Lisa.[30]
The Cabinet du Roi consisted of seven rooms west of the Galerie d'Apollon on the upper floor of the remodeled Petite Galerie. Many of the king's paintings were placed in these rooms in 1673, when it became an art gallery, accessible to certain art lovers as a kind of museum. In 1681, after the court moved to Versailles, 26 of the paintings were transferred there, somewhat diminishing the collection, but it is mentioned in Paris guide books from 1684 on, and was shown to ambassadors fromSiam in 1686.[31]
By the mid-18th century there were an increasing number of proposals to create a public gallery in the Louvre. Art criticÉtienne La Font de Saint-Yenne in 1747 published a call for a display of the royal collection. On 14 October 1750,Louis XV decided on a display of 96 pieces from the royal collection, mounted in the Galerie royale de peinture of theLuxembourg Palace. A hall was opened byLe Normant de Tournehem and theMarquis de Marigny for public viewing of the "king's paintings" (Tableaux du Roy) on Wednesdays and Saturdays. The Luxembourg gallery includedAndrea del Sarto'sCharity and works byRaphael;Titian;Veronese;Rembrandt;Poussin orVan Dyck. It closed in 1780 as a result of the royal gift of the Luxembourg palace to theCount of Provence (the future king, Louis XVIII) by the king in 1778.[32] UnderLouis XVI, the idea of a royal museum in the Louvre came closer to fruition.[33] Thecomte d'Angiviller broadened the collection and in 1776 proposed to convert theGrande Galerie of the Louvre – which at that time contained theplans-reliefs or 3D models of key fortified sites in and around France – into the "French Museum". Many design proposals were offered for the Louvre's renovation into a museum, without a final decision being made on them. Hence the museum remained incomplete until the French Revolution.[32]
The Louvre finally became a public museum during the French Revolution. In May 1791, theNational Constituent Assembly declared that the Louvre would be "a place for bringing together monuments of all the sciences and arts".[32] On 10 August 1792,Louis XVI was imprisoned and the royal collection in the Louvre became national property. Because of fear of vandalism or theft, on 19 August, the National Assembly pronounced the museum's preparation urgent. In October, a committee to "preserve the national memory" began assembling the collection for display.[34]
The museum opened on 10 August 1793, the first anniversary of the monarchy's demise, asMuséum central des Arts de la République. The public was given free accessibility on three days per week, which was "perceived as a major accomplishment and was generally appreciated".[36] The collection showcased 537 paintings and 184 objects of art. Three-quarters were derived from the royal collections, the remainder from confiscatedémigrés andChurch property (biens nationaux).[37][21]: 68-69 To expand and organize the collection, the Republic dedicated 100,000 livres per year.[32] In 1794, France's revolutionary armies began bringing pieces from Northern Europe, augmented after theTreaty of Tolentino (1797) by works from the Vatican, such as theLaocoön andApollo Belvedere, to establish the Louvre as a museum and as a "sign of popular sovereignty".[37][38]
The early days were hectic. Privileged artists continued to live in residence, and the unlabeled paintings hung "frame to frame from floor to ceiling".[37] The structure itself closed in May 1796 due to structural deficiencies. It reopened on14 July 1801, arranged chronologically and with new lighting and columns.[37] On 15 August 1797, theGalerie d'Apollon was opened with an exhibition of drawings. Meanwhile, the Louvre's Gallery of Antiquity sculpture (musée des Antiques), with artefacts brought from Florence and the Vatican, had opened in November 1800 inAnne of Austria's former summer apartment, located on the ground floor just below the Galerie d'Apollon.
The collection grew through successful military campaigns.[21]: 52 Acquisitions were made of Spanish, Austrian, Dutch, and Italian works, either as the result ofwar looting or formalized by treaties such as theTreaty of Tolentino.[41] At the end of Napoleon's First Italian Campaign in 1797, theTreaty of Campo Formio was signed withCount Philipp von Cobenzl of theAustrian Monarchy. This treaty marked the completion of Napoleon's conquest of Italy and the end of the first phase of theFrench Revolutionary Wars. It compelled Italian cities to contribute pieces of art and heritage to Napoleon's "parades of spoils" through Paris before being put into the Louvre Museum.[42] TheHorses of Saint Mark, which had adorned the basilica of San Marco in Venice after the sack ofConstantinople in 1204, were brought to Paris where they were placed atop Napoleon'sArc de Triomphe du Carrousel in 1797.[42] Under the Treaty of Tolentino, the two statues of the Nile and Tiber were taken to Paris from the Vatican in 1797, and were both kept in the Louvre until 1815. (The Nile was later returned to Rome,[43] whereas the Tiber has remained in the Louvre to this day.) The despoilment of Italian churches and palaces outraged the Italians and their artistic and cultural sensibilities.[44]
After the French defeat atWaterloo, the looted works' former owners sought their return. The Louvre's administrator, Denon, was loath to comply in absence of a treaty of restitution. In response, foreign states sent emissaries to London to seek help, and many pieces were returned, though far from all.[41][21]: 69 [45] In 1815Louis XVIII finally concluded agreements with theAustrian government[46][47] for the keeping of works such as Veronese'sWedding at Cana which was exchanged for a largeLe Brun or the repurchase of theAlbani collection.
For most of the 19th century, fromNapoleon's time to theSecond Empire, the Louvre and other national museums were managed under the monarch'scivil list and thus depended much on the ruler's personal involvement. Whereas the most iconic collection remained that of paintings in theGrande Galerie, a number of other initiatives mushroomed in the vast building, named as if they were separate museums even though they were generally managed under the same administrative umbrella. Correspondingly, the museum complex was often referred to in the plural ("les musées du Louvre") rather than singular.[48]
During theBourbon Restoration (1814–1830),Louis XVIII andCharles X added to the collections. The Greek and Roman sculpture gallery on the ground floor of the southwestern side of theCour Carrée was completed on designs byPercier and Fontaine. In 1819 an exhibition of manufactured products was opened in the first floor of the Cour Carrée's southern wing and would stay there until the mid-1820s.[40]: 87 Charles X in 1826 created theMusée Égyptien and in 1827 included it in his broaderMusée Charles X, a new section of the museum complex located in a suite of lavishly decorated rooms on the first floor of the South Wing of the Cour Carrée. The Egyptian collection, initially curated byJean-François Champollion, formed the basis for what is now the Louvre'sDepartment of Egyptian Antiquities. It was formed from the purchased collections ofEdmé-Antoine Durand,Henry Salt and the second collection ofBernardino Drovetti (the first one having been purchased byVictor Emmanuel I of Sardinia to form the core of the presentMuseo Egizio inTurin). The Restoration period also saw the opening in 1824 of theGalerie d'Angoulême, a section of largely French sculptures on the ground floor of the Northwestern side of the Cour Carrée, many of whose artefacts came from thePalace of Versailles and from Alexandre Lenoir'sMusée des Monuments Français following its closure in 1816. Meanwhile, theFrench Navy created an exhibition of ship models in the Louvre in December 1827, initially namedmusée dauphin in honor ofDauphin Louis Antoine,[49] building on an 18th-century initiative ofHenri-Louis Duhamel du Monceau. This collection, renamedmusée naval in 1833 and later to develop into theMusée national de la Marine, was initially located on the first floor of the Cour Carrée's North Wing, and in 1838 moved up one level to the 2nd-floorattic, where it remained for more than a century.[50]
Rooms of the Musée Charles X
First room
Room 27
Room 29
Salle des Colonnes
Room 35
Room 36
Room 38
Ceiling decorations designed byFélix Duban in theSalon Carré (left) andSalle des Sept-Cheminées (right), late 1840s
Following theJuly Revolution,King Louis Philippe focused his interest on the repurposing of thePalace of Versailles into aMuseum of French History conceived as a project of national reconciliation, and the Louvre was kept in comparative neglect. Louis-Philippe did, however, sponsor the creation of themusée assyrien to host the monumentalAssyrian sculpture works brought to Paris byPaul-Émile Botta, in the ground-floor gallery north of the eastern entrance of the Cour Carrée. The Assyrian Museum opened on 1 May 1847.[51] Separately, Louis-Philippe had hisSpanish gallery displayed in the Louvre from 7 January 1838, in five rooms on the first floor of the Cour Carrée's East (Colonnade) Wing,[52] but the collection remained his personal property. As a consequence, the works were removed after Louis-Philippe was deposed in 1848, and were eventually auctioned away in 1853.
The short-livedSecond Republic had more ambitions for the Louvre. It initiated repair work, the completion of theGalerie d'Apollon and of thesalle des sept-cheminées, and the overhaul of theSalon Carré (former site of the iconic yearlySalon) and of the Grande Galerie.[21]: 52 In 1848, the Naval Museum in the Cour Carrée's attic was brought under the common Louvre Museum management,[50] a change which was again reversed in 1920. In 1850 under the leadership of curatorAdrien de Longpérier, themusée mexicain opened within the Louvre as the first European museum dedicated topre-Columbian art.[53]
The rule ofNapoleon III was transformational for the Louvre, both the building and the museum. In 1852, he created theMusée des Souverains in theColonnade Wing, an ideological project aimed at buttressing his personal legitimacy. In 1861, he bought 11,835 artworks including 641 paintings, Greek gold and other antiquities of theCampana collection. For its display, he created another new section within the Louvre namedMusée Napoléon III, occupying a number of rooms in various parts of the building. Between 1852 and 1870, the museum added 20,000 new artefacts to its collections.[54]
The main change of that period was to the building itself. In the 1850s architectsLouis Visconti andHector Lefuel created massive new spaces around what is now called theCour Napoléon, some of which (in the South Wing, now Aile Denon) went to the museum.[21]: 52-54 In the 1860s, Lefuel also led the creation of thepavillon des Sessions with a newSalle des Etats closer to Napoleon III's residence in theTuileries Palace, with the effect of shortening theGrande Galerie by about a third of its previous length. A smaller but significant Second Empire project was the decoration of thesalle des Empereurs below theSalon carré.[citation needed]
Entrance to a section of theMusée Napoléon III from thesalle des séances, then a double-height space
Galerie Daru, part of the New Louvre building program under Napoleon III
Salle Daru above thegalerie Daru, also created under Napoleon III
Memorial plaques honoring the Louvre's defenders in May 1871
The Louvre narrowly escaped serious damage during the suppression of theParis Commune. On 23 May 1871, as the French Army advanced into Paris, a force ofCommunards led byJules Bergeret [fr] set fire to the adjoiningTuileries Palace. The fire burned for forty-eight hours, entirely destroying the interior of the Tuileries and spreading to the north west wing of the museum next to it. The emperor's Louvre library (Bibliothèque du Louvre) and some of the adjoining halls, in what is now the Richelieu Wing, were separately destroyed. But the museum was saved by the efforts of Paris firemen and museum employees led by curatorHenry Barbet de Jouy.[55]
Following the end of the monarchy, several spaces in the Louvre's South Wing went to the museum. The Salle du Manège was transferred to the museum in 1879, and in 1928 became its main entrance lobby.[56] The large Salle des Etats that had been created by Lefuel between theGrande Galerie and Pavillon Denon was redecorated in 1886 byEdmond Guillaume [fr], Lefuel's successor as architect of the Louvre, and opened as a spacious exhibition room.[57][58] Edomond Guillaume also decorated the first-floor room at the northwest corner of theCour Carrée, on the ceiling of which he placed in 1890 a monumental painting byCarolus-Duran,The Triumph ofMarie de' Medici originally created in 1879 for theLuxembourg Palace.[58]
Meanwhile, during theThird Republic (1870–1940) the Louvre acquired new artefacts mainly via donations, gifts, and sharing arrangements on excavations abroad. The 583-itemCollection La Caze, donated in 1869 byLouis La Caze, included works byChardin;Fragonard,Rembrandt andWatteau.[21]: 70-71 In 1883, theWinged Victory of Samothrace, which had been found in the Aegean Sea in 1863, was prominently displayed as the focal point of theEscalier Daru.[21]: 70-71 Major artifacts excavated atSusa in Iran, including the massiveApadana capital and glazed brick decoration from thePalace of Darius there, accrued to the Oriental (Near Eastern) Antiquities Department in the 1880s. TheSociété des amis du Louvre was established in 1897 and donated prominent works, such as thePietà of Villeneuve-lès-Avignon. The expansion of the museum and its collections slowed after World War I, however, despite some prominent acquisitions such asGeorges de La Tour'sSaint Thomas andBaron Edmond de Rothschild's 1935 donation of 4,000 prints, 3,000 drawings, and 500 illustrated books.
From the late 19th century, the Louvre gradually veered away from its mid-century ambition of universality to become a more focused museum of French, Western and Near Eastern art, covering a space ranging fromIran to the Atlantic. The collections of the Louvre'smusée mexicain were transferred to theMusée d'Ethnographie du Trocadéro in 1887. As theMusée de Marine was increasingly constrained to display its core naval-themed collections in the limited space it had in the second-floorattic of the northern half of the Cour Carrée, many of its significant holdings of non-Western artefacts were transferred in 1905 to the Trocadéro ethnography museum, theNational Antiquities Museum inSaint-Germain-en-Laye, and theChinese Museum in thePalace of Fontainebleau.[59] The Musée de Marine itself was relocated to thePalais de Chaillot in 1943. The Louvre's extensive collections ofAsian art were moved to theGuimet Museum in 1945. Nevertheless, the Louvre's first gallery ofIslamic art opened in 1893.[60]
In the late 1920s, Louvre DirectorHenri Verne devised a master plan for the rationalization of the museum's exhibitions, which was partly implemented in the following decade. In 1932–1934, Louvre architectsCamille Lefèvre [fr] and Albert Ferran redesigned theEscalier Daru to its current appearance. TheCour du Sphinx in the South Wing was covered by a glass roof in 1934. Decorative arts exhibits were expanded in the first floor of the North Wing of theCour Carrée, including some of France's firstperiod room displays. In the late 1930s, The La Caze donation was moved to a remodeledSalle La Caze above thesalle des Caryatides, with reduced height to create more rooms on the second floor and a sober interior design by Albert Ferran.[citation needed]
DuringWorld War II, the Louvre conducted an elaborate plan ofevacuation of its art collection. When Germany occupied theSudetenland, many important artworks such as theMona Lisa were temporarily moved to theChâteau de Chambord. When war was formally declared a year later, most of the museum's paintings were sent there as well. Select sculptures such asWinged Victory of Samothrace and theVenus de Milo were sent to theChâteau de Valençay.[62] On 27 August 1939, after two days of packing, truck convoys began to leave Paris. By 28 December, the museum was cleared of most works, except those that were too heavy and "unimportant paintings [that] were left in the basement".[63] In early 1945, after the liberation of France, art began returning to the Louvre.[64]
New arrangements after the war revealed the further evolution of taste away from the lavish decorative practices of the late 19th century. In 1947, Edmond Guillaume's ceiling ornaments were removed from theSalle des Etats,[58] where theMona Lisa was first displayed in 1966.[65] Around 1950, Louvre architectJean-Jacques Haffner [fr] streamlined the interior decoration of theGrande Galerie.[58] In 1953, a new ceiling byGeorges Braque was inaugurated in theSalle Henri II, next to theSalle La Caze.[66] In the late 1960s, seats designed byPierre Paulin were installed in theGrande Galerie.[67] In 1972, theSalon Carré's museography was remade with lighting from a hung tubular case, designed by Louvre architectMarc Saltet [fr] with assistance from designersAndré Monpoix [fr],Joseph-André Motte and Paulin.[68]
In 1961, the Finance Ministry accepted to leave thePavillon de Flore at the southwestern end of the Louvre building, as Verne had recommended in his 1920s plan. New exhibition spaces of sculptures (ground floor) and paintings (first floor) opened there later in the 1960s, on a design by government architect Olivier Lahalle.[69]
In 1981, French PresidentFrançois Mitterrand proposed, as one of hisGrands Projets, the Grand Louvre plan to relocate theFinance Ministry, until then housed in the North Wing of the Louvre, and thus devote almost the entire Louvre building (except its northwestern tip, which houses the separateMusée des Arts Décoratifs) to the museum which would be correspondingly restructured. In 1984I. M. Pei, the architect personally selected by Mitterrand, proposed a master plan including an underground entrance space accessed through aglass pyramid in the Louvre's centralCour Napoléon.[21]: 66
The open spaces surrounding the pyramid were inaugurated on 15 October 1988, and its underground lobby was opened on 30 March 1989. New galleries of early modern French paintings on the 2nd floor of theCour Carrée, for which the planning had started before theGrand Louvre, also opened in 1989. Further rooms in the same sequence, designed byItalo Rota, opened on 15 December 1992.[citation needed]
On 18 November 1993, Mitterrand inaugurated the next major phase of the Grand Louvre plan: the renovated North (Richelieu) Wing in the former Finance Ministry site, the museum's largest single expansion in its entire history, designed by Pei, his French associate Michel Macary, andJean-Michel Wilmotte. Further underground spaces known as theCarrousel du Louvre, centered on theInverted Pyramid and designed by Pei and Macary, had opened in October 1993. Other refurbished galleries, of Italian sculptures and Egyptian antiquities, opened in 1994. The third and last main phase of the plan unfolded mainly in 1997, with new renovated rooms in the Sully and Denon wings. A new entrance at theporte des Lions opened in 1998, leading on the first floor to new rooms of Spanish paintings.[citation needed]
As of 2002, the Louvre's visitor count had doubled from its pre-Grand-Louvre levels.[70]
The Napoleon Courtyard andI. M. Pei'spyramid in its center, at dusk
Ceiling byCy Twombly installed in 2010 in theSalle des Bronzes, before the room's redesign in 2021
PresidentJacques Chirac, who had succeeded Mitterrand in 1995, insisted on the return of non-Western art to the Louvre, upon a recommendation from his friend the art collector and dealerJacques Kerchache [fr]. On his initiative, a selection of highlights from the collections of what would become theMusée du Quai Branly – Jacques Chirac was installed on the ground floor of thePavillon des Sessions and opened in 2000, six years ahead of the Musée du Quai Branly itself.
The main other initiative in the aftermath of the Grand Louvre project was Chirac's decision to create a new department of Islamic Art, by executive order of 1 August 2003, and to move the corresponding collections from their prior underground location in the Richelieu Wing to a more prominent site in the Denon Wing. That new section opened on 22 September 2012, together with collections from the Roman-era Eastern Mediterranean, with financial support from theAl Waleed bin Talal Foundation and on a design byMario Bellini andRudy Ricciotti.[71][72][73]
In 2007, German painterAnselm Kiefer was invited to create a work for the North stairs of thePerraultColonnade,Athanor. This decision announces the museum's reengagement with contemporary art under the direction ofHenri Loyrette, fifty years after the institution's last order to a contemporary artists,George Braque.[74]
In 2010, American painterCy Twombly completed a new ceiling for theSalle des Bronzes (the formerSalle La Caze), a counterpoint to that of Braque installed in 1953 in the adjacentSalle Henri II. The room's floor and walls were redesigned in 2021 by Louvre architect Michel Goutal to revert the changes made by his predecessor Albert Ferran in the late 1930s, triggering protests from the Cy Twombly Foundation on grounds that the then-deceased painter's work had been created to fit with the room's prior decoration.[75]
That same year, the Louvre commissioned French artistFrançois Morellet to create a work for the Lefuel stairs, on the first floor. ForL'esprit d'escalier Morellet redesigned the stairscase's windows, echoing their original structures but distorting them to create a disturbing optical effect.[76]
On 6 June 2014, the Decorative Arts section on the first floor of theCour Carrée's northern wing opened after comprehensive refurbishment.[77]
In January 2020, under the direction ofJean-Luc Martinez, the museum inaugurated a new contemporary art commission,L'Onde du Midi by Venezuelan kinetic artistElias Crespin. The sculpture hovers under the Escalier du Midi, the staircase on the South of thePerrault Colonnade.[78]
The Louvre, like many other museums and galleries, felt theimpact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the arts and cultural heritage. It was closed for six months during French coronavirus lockdowns and saw visitor numbers plunge to 2.7 million in 2020, from 9.6 million in 2019 and 10.2 million in 2018, which was a record year.[79][80]
In preparation for the2024 Olympics, the Louvre staged an exhibit about the Games' history that links their ancient beginnings to the modern era.[81]
Attendance rose to 8.9 million in 2023, 14 percent above 2022, but still short of the record of 10.2 million in 2018.[10]
In January 2025, French PresidentEmmanuel Macron announced plans for a renovation and expansion of the Louvre, including a room solely for the Mona Lisa. The planned renovation and expansion was a result of the increasing number of visitors each year to the Louvre.[82]
ThePavillon des Sessions's display of non-Western art from theMusée du Quai Branly, opened in 2000
TheCour Visconti's ground floor covered to host the new Islamic Art Department in 2012
Islamic art display in the coveredCour Visconti, 2012
Underground display of the Islamic Art Department, 2012
The Musée du Louvre owns 615,797 objects[1] of which 482,943 are accessible online since 24 March 2021[83] and displays 35,000 works of art in eight curatorial departments.[2]
The Louvre is home to one of the world's most extensive collections of art, including works from diverse cultures and time periods. Visitors can view iconic works like theMona Lisa and theWinged Victory of Samothrace, as well as pieces from ancient civilizations such as Egypt, Greece, and Rome. The museum also features collections of decorative arts, Islamic art, and sculptures.[84]
Guarded by theGreat Sphinx of Tanis, the collection is housed in more than 20 rooms. Holdings include art,papyrus scrolls, mummies, tools, clothing, jewelry, games, musical instruments, and weapons.[21]: 76-77 [85] Pieces from the ancient period include theGebel el-Arak Knife from 3400 BC,The Seated Scribe, and theHead of King Djedefre. Middle Kingdom art, "known for its gold work and statues", moved from realism to idealization; this is exemplified by theschist statue ofAmenemhatankh and the woodenOffering Bearer. The New Kingdom and Coptic Egyptian sections are deep, but the statue of the goddessNephthys and the limestone depiction of the goddessHathor demonstrate New Kingdom sentiment and wealth.[85][86]
Near Eastern antiquities, the second newest department, dates from 1881 and presents an overview of early Near Eastern civilization and "first settlements", before the arrival ofIslam. The department is divided into three geographic areas: theLevant,Mesopotamia (Iraq), and Persia (Iran). The collection's development corresponds to archaeological work such asPaul-Émile Botta's 1843 expedition toKhorsabad and the discovery ofSargon II's palace.[85][21]: 119 These finds formed the basis of the Assyrian museum, the precursor to today's department.[85]
The museum contains exhibits fromSumer and the city ofAkkad, with monuments such as the Prince of Lagash'sStele of the Vultures from 2450 BC and thestele erected byNaram-Sin, King of Akkad, to celebrate a victory over barbarians in theZagros Mountains. The 2.25-metre (7.38 ft)Code of Hammurabi, discovered in 1901, displaysBabylonian Laws prominently, so that no man could plead their ignorance. The 18th-century BC mural of theInvestiture of Zimrilim and the 25th-century BCStatue of Ebih-Il found in the ancient city-state ofMari are also on display at the museum.[87]
A significant portion of the department covers the ancientLevant, including theSarcophagus of Eshmunazar II discovered in 1855, which catalyzedErnest Renan's 1860Mission de Phénicie. It contains one of the world's largest and most comprehensive collections ofCanaanite and Aramaic inscriptions. The section also covers North African Punic antiquities (Punic = Western Phoenician), given the significant French presence in the region in the 19th century, with early finds including the 1843 discovery of theAin Nechma inscriptions.
The Persian portion of Louvre contains work from the archaic period, like theFunerary Head and the PersianArchers of Darius I,[85][88] and rare objects fromPersepolis.[89]
Sarcophagus of Eshmunazar II, one of only three Ancient Egyptian sarcophagi found outside Egypt, and the first Phoenician inscription discovered in Phoenicia
The Greek, Etruscan, and Roman department displays pieces from the Mediterranean Basin dating from theNeolithic to the 6th century.[90] The collection spans from theCycladic period to the decline of the Roman Empire. This department is one of the museum's oldest, and contains works acquired byFrancis I.[85][21]: 155-58 Initially, the collection focused on marble sculptures, such as theVenus de Milo. Works such as theApollo Belvedere arrived during the Napoleonic Wars, of which some were returned after Napoleon I's fall in 1815. Other works, such as theBorghese Vase, were bought by Napoleon. Later in the 19th century, the Louvre acquired works including vases from the Durand collection and bronzes.[21]: 92 [90]
Thearchaic is demonstrated by jewellery and pieces such as the limestoneLady of Auxerre, from 640 BC; and the cylindricalHera of Samos,c. 570–560 BC.[85][91] After the 4th century BC, focus on the human form increased, exemplified by theBorghese Gladiator. The Louvre holds masterpieces from theHellenistic era, including TheWinged Victory of Samothrace (190 BC) and the Venus de Milo, symbolic of classical art.[21]: 155 The longGalerie Campana displays an outstanding collection of more than one thousandGreek potteries. In the galleries paralleling the Seine, much of the museum's Roman sculpture is displayed.[90] The Roman portraiture is representative of that genre; examples include the portraits ofAgrippa andAnnius Verus; among the bronzes is the GreekApollo of Piombino.
Cycladic head of a woman; 27th century BC; marble; height: 27 cm
Volutekrater that depictsActaeon's death; circa 450–440 BC; ceramic; height: 51 cm, diameter: 33.1 cm
The Islamic art collection, the museum's newest, spans "thirteen centuries and three continents".[93] These exhibits, of ceramics, glass, metalware, wood, ivory, carpet, textiles, and miniatures, include more than 5,000 works and 1,000 shards.[94] Originally part of the decorative arts department, the holdings became separate in 2003. Among the works are thePyxide d'al-Mughira, a 10th century ivory box fromAndalusia; theBaptistery of Saint-Louis, an engraved brass basin from the 13th or 14th centuryMamluk period; and the 10th centuryShroud of Saint-Josse from Iran.[21]: 119-121 [93] The collection contains three pages of theShahnameh, an epic book of poems byFerdowsi in Persian, and a Syrian metalwork named theBarberini Vase.[94] In September 2019, a new and improved Islamic art department was opened by PrincessLamia bint Majed Al Saud. The new department exhibits 3,000 pieces were collected from Spain to India via the Arabian peninsula dating from the 7th to the 19th centuries.[95]
The Cour Marly of the Louvre, where many French sculptures are exhibited
The sculpture department consists of works created before 1850 not belonging in the Etruscan, Greek, and Roman department.[96] The Louvre has been a repository of sculpted material since its time as a palace; however, only ancient architecture was displayed until 1824, except forMichelangelo'sDying Slave andRebellious Slave.[21]: 397-401 Initially the collection included only 100 pieces, the rest of the royal sculpture collection being at Versailles. It remained small until 1847, when Léon Laborde was given control of the department. Laborde developed the medieval section and purchased the first such statues and sculptures in the collection,King Childebert andstanga door, respectively.[21]: 397-401 The collection was part of the Department of Antiquities but was given autonomy in 1871 underLouis Courajod, a director who organized a wider representation of French works.[96][21]: 397-401 In 1986, all post-1850 works were relocated to the new Musée d'Orsay. The Grand Louvre project separated the department into two exhibition spaces; the French collection is displayed in the Richelieu Wing, and foreign works in the Denon Wing.[96]
TheObjets d'art collection spans the time from the Middle Ages to the mid-19th century. The department began as a subset of the sculpture department, based on royal property and the transfer of work from theBasilique Saint-Denis, the burial ground of French monarchs that held theCoronation Sword of the Kings of France.[97][21]: 451-454 Among the budding collection's most prized works werepietre dure vases and bronzes. The Durand collection's 1825 acquisition added "ceramics, enamels, and stained glass", and 800 pieces were given by Pierre Révoil. The onset ofRomanticism rekindled interest inRenaissance andMedieval artwork, and the Sauvageot donation expanded the department with 1,500 middle-age andfaïence works. In 1862, theCampana collection added gold jewelry and maiolicas, mainly from the 15th and 16th centuries.[21]: 451-454 [98]
The works are displayed on the Richelieu Wing's first floor and in the Apollo Gallery, named by the painter Charles Le Brun, who was commissioned by Louis XIV (the Sun King) to decorate the space in a solar theme. The medieval collection contains the coronation crown of Louis XV,Charles V's sceptre, and the 12th centuryporphyry vase.[99] The Renaissance art holdings includeGiambologna's bronzeNessus and Deianira and the tapestryMaximillian's Hunt.[97] From later periods, highlights includeMadame de Pompadour'sSèvres vase collection andNapoleon III's apartments.[97]
In September 2000, the Louvre Museum dedicated theGilbert Chagoury and Rose-Marie Chagoury Gallery to display tapestries donated by the Chagourys, including a 16th-century six-part tapestry suite, sewn with gold and silver threads representing sea divinities, which was commissioned in Paris forColbert de Seignelay, Secretary of State for the Navy.
Louis XVI style commode ofMadame du Barry; 1772; oak frame, veneer of pearwood, rosewood and kingwood, soft-pasteSèvres porcelain, gilded bronze, white marble, and glass; height: 0.87 m, width: 1.19 m, depth: 0.48 m[101]
The painting collection has more than 7,500 works[13]: 229 from the 13th century to 1848 and is managed by 12 curators who oversee the collection's display. Nearly two-thirds are by French artists, and more than 1,200 are Northern European. The Italian paintings compose most of the remnants of Francis I and Louis XIV's collections, others are unreturned artwork from the Napoleon era, and some were bought.[103][21]: 199-201, 272–273, 333–335 The collection began with Francis, who acquired works from Italian masters such asRaphael andMichelangelo[104] and brought Leonardo da Vinci to his court.[105][106] After theFrench Revolution, the Royal Collection formed the nucleus of the Louvre. When thed'Orsay train station was converted into theMusée d'Orsay in 1986, the collection was split, and pieces completed after the1848 Revolution were moved to the new museum. French and Northern European works are in the Richelieu Wing andCour Carrée; Spanish and Italian paintings are on the first floor of the Denon Wing.[21]: 199
The La Caze Collection, a bequest to the Musée du Louvre in 1869 byLouis La Caze, was the largest contribution of a person in the history of the Louvre. La Caze gave 584 paintings of his personal collection to the museum. The bequest includedAntoine Watteau's Commedia dell'arte player of Pierrot ("Gilles"). In 2007, this bequest was the topic of the exhibition "1869: Watteau, Chardin... entrent au Louvre. La collection La Caze".[111]
Some of the best known paintings of the museum have been digitized by the French Center for Research and Restoration of the Museums of France.[112]
Theprints and drawings department encompasses works on paper.[21]: 496 The origins of the collection were the 8,600 works in the Royal Collection (Cabinet du Roi), which were increased via state appropriation, purchases such as the 1,200 works from Fillipo Baldinucci's collection in 1806, and donations.[21]: 92 [113] The department opened on 5 August 1797, with 415 pieces displayed in the Galerie d'Apollon. The collection is organized into three sections: the coreCabinet du Roi, 14,000 royal copper printing-plates, and the donations ofEdmond de Rothschild,[114] which include 40,000 prints, 3,000 drawings, and 5,000 illustrated books. The holdings are displayed in the Pavillon de Flore; due to the fragility of the paper medium, only a portion are displayed at one time.[21]: 496
Studies of Women's Heads and a Man's Head; byAntoine Watteau; first half of the 18th century; sanguine, black chalk and white chalk on gray paper; 28 × 38.1 cm
Leonardo da Vinci'sMona Lisa is the Louvre's most popular attraction.Restoration workshops in the Louvre
The Louvre is owned by the French government. Since the 1990s, its management and governance have been made more independent.[115][116][117][118] Since 2003, the museum has been required to generate funds for projects.[117] By 2006, government funds had dipped from 75 percent of the total budget to 62 percent. Every year, the Louvre now raises as much as it gets from the state, about €122 million. The government pays for operating costs (salaries, safety, and maintenance), while the rest – new wings, refurbishments, acquisitions – is up to the museum to finance.[119] A further €3 million to €5 million a year is raised by the Louvre from exhibitions that it curates for other museums, while the host museum keeps the ticket money.[119] As the Louvre became a point of interest in the bookThe Da Vinci Code and the 2006 film based on the book, the museum earned $2.5 million by allowing filming in its galleries.[120][121] In 2008, the French government provided $180 million of the Louvre's yearly $350 million budget; the remainder came from private contributions and ticket sales.[116]
The Louvre employs a staff of 2,000 led by DirectorJean-Luc Martinez,[122] who reports to the French Ministry of Culture and Communications. Martinez replacedHenri Loyrette in April 2013. Under Loyrette, who replacedPierre Rosenberg in 2001, the Louvre has undergone policy changes that allow it to lend and borrow more works than before.[115][117] In 2006, it loaned 1,300 works, which enabled it to borrow more foreign works. From 2006 to 2009, the Louvre lent artwork to theHigh Museum of Art in Atlanta, Georgia, and received a $6.9 million payment to be used for renovations.[117]
In 2009,Minister of cultureFrédéric Mitterrand approved a plan that would have created a storage facility 30 km (19 mi) northwest of Paris to hold objects from the Louvre and two other national museums in Paris's flood zone, theMusée du Quai Branly and theMusée d'Orsay; the plan was later scrapped. In 2013, his successorAurélie Filippetti announced that the Louvre would move more than 250,000 works of art[123] held in a 20,000 square metres (220,000 sq ft) basement storage area inLiévin; the cost of the project, estimated at €60 million, will be split between the region (49%) and the Louvre (51%).[124] The Louvre will be the sole owner and manager of the store.[123] In July 2015, a team led by British firmRogers Stirk Harbour + Partners was selected to design the complex, which will have light-filled work spaces under one vast, green roof.[123][125]
In 2012, the Louvre and theFine Arts Museums of San Francisco announced a five-year collaboration on exhibitions, publications, art conservation and educational programming.[126][127] The €98.5 million expansion of the Islamic Art galleries in 2012 received state funding of €31 million, as well as €17 million from theAlwaleed Bin Talal Foundation founded by the eponymous Saudi prince. The Republic of Azerbaijan, the Emir of Kuwait, the Sultan of Oman andKing Mohammed VI of Morocco donated in total €26 million. In addition, the opening of the Louvre Abu Dhabi is supposed to provide €400 million over the course of 30 years for its use of the museum's brand.[71] Loyrette has tried to improve weak parts of the collection through income generated from loans of art and by guaranteeing that "20% of admissions receipts will be taken annually for acquisitions".[117] He has more administrative independence for the museum and achieved 90 percent of galleries to be open daily, as opposed to 80 percent previously. He oversaw the creation of extended hours and free admission on Friday nights and an increase in the acquisition budget to $36 million from $4.5 million.[116][117]
In March 2018, an exhibition of dozens of artworks and relics belonging to France's Louvre Museum was opened to visitors inTehran, as a result of an agreement between Iranian and French presidents in 2016.[128] In the Louvre, two departments were allocated to the antiquities of the Iranian civilization, and the managers of the two departments visited Tehran. Relics belonging to Ancient Egypt, Rome and Mesopotamia as well as French royal items were showcased at the Tehran exhibition.[129][130][131]
On the 500th anniversary of Leonardo da Vinci's death, the Louvre held the largest ever single exhibit of his work, from 24 October 2019 to 24 February 2020.[134][135] The event included over a hundred items: paintings, drawings and notebooks. A full 11 of the fewer than 20 paintings that Da Vinci completed in his lifetime were displayed.[136] Five of them are owned by the Louvre, but theMona Lisa was not included because it is in such great demand among visitors to the Louvre museum; the work remained on display in its gallery.Salvator Mundi was also not included since the Saudi owner did not agree to move the work from its hiding place.Vitruvian Man, however, was on display, after a successful legal battle with its owner, theGalleria dell'Accademia in Venice.[137][138]
In 2021, a Renaissance era ceremonial helmet and breastplate stolen from the museum in 1983 were recovered. The museum noted that the 1983 theft had "deeply troubled all the staff at the time." There are few publicly accessible details on the theft itself.[139][140]
The current director of the Louvre isLaurence des Cars, who was selected by French president Emmanuel Macron in 2021.[141][142] She is the first woman to hold this position.[143]During theCOVID-19 pandemic, the Louvre has launched a digital platform where most of its works, including those that are not on display, can be seen. The database includes more than 482,000 illustrated records, representing 75% of the Louvre's collections.[144] The museum was visited by over 7.6 million visitors in 2022, up 170 percent from 2021, but still below the 10.8 million visitors in 2018 before the COVID-19 pandemic.[145]
In 2023, the Louvre Museum in Paris implemented a significant change in its pricing policy, marking the first price increase since 2017.[146] The decision to raise ticket prices by 30% is part of a broader strategy aimed at supporting free entry during the Olympics and effectively managing the anticipated crowd. Director Laurence des Cars has introduced measures to regulate attendance, including capping daily visitors at 30,000 and planning a new entrance to alleviate congestion. These efforts are geared towards ensuring a top-notch experience for art enthusiasts during the Olympic Games, as the museum expects to host approximately 8.7 million visitors this year, with a remarkable 80% seeking to view theMona Lisa.
List of excavations that benefited the Louvre (Rotonde d'Apollon)
The Louvre's ancient art collections are to a significant extent the product of excavations, some of which the museum sponsored under various legal regimes over time, often as a companion to France's diplomacy and/or colonial enterprises. In theRotonde d'Apollon, a carved marble panel lists a number of such campaigns, led by:
The rest of the plaque combines donors of archaeological items, many of whom were archaeologists themselves, and other archaeologists whose excavations contributed to the Louvre's collections:
Several museums in and outside France have been or are placed under the Louvre's administrative authority or linked to it through exclusive partnerships, while not being located in theLouvre Palace. Since 2019, the Louvre has also maintained a large art storage and research facility in the Northern French town ofLiévin, theCentre de conservation du Louvre [fr], which is not open to the public.[147]
In February 1926, theMusée de Cluny, whose creation dates back to the 19th century, was brought under the aegis of the Louvre's department of decorative arts (Objets d'Art).[148] That affiliation was terminated in 1977.[149]
TheJeu de Paume building in theTuileries Garden, initially intended as a sports venue, was repurposed from 1909 as an art gallery. In 1947, it became the exhibition space for the Louvre's collections of late 19th and early 20th paintings, most prominentlyImpressionism, as the Louvre Palace was lacking space to display them, and was consequently brought under direct management by the Louvre'sDépartement des Peintures. In 1986, these collections were transferred to the newly createdMusée d'Orsay.[150]
The Musée du Petit Palais opened in 1976 in the former urban mansion of thearchbishops of Avignon, close to thePapal Palace inAvignon. An initiative led by Avignon MayorHenri Duffaut [fr] and Louvre President-DirectorMichel Laclotte, part of its permanent collection is made of artworks from theCollection Campana [fr] deposited by the Louvre. On 2 April 2024, a new agreement between the City of Avignon and the Louvre allowed its rebranding asMusée du Petit Palais – Louvre en Avignon.[151]
Thegypsothèque (plaster cast gallery) of the Louvre is a collection ofplaster casts that was formed in 1970 by the reunion of the corresponding inventories of the Louvre, theBeaux-Arts de Paris and the Art and Archaeology Institute of theSorbonne University, the latter two following depredations during theMay 68 student unrest. Initially called theMusée des Monuments Antiques from 1970 to 1978, the project was subsequently left unfinished and only came to fruition after being brought under the Louvre's management by ministerial decision in 2001.[152] It is located in thePetite Écurie, a dependency ofVersailles Palace, and has been open to the public since 2012.[153]
The small museum located inEugène Delacroix's former workshop in central Paris, created in the 1930s, has been placed under management by the Louvre since 2004.[154]
The Louvre-Lens follows a May 2003 initiative by then culture ministerJean-Jacques Aillagon to promote cultural projects outside of Paris that would make the riches of major Parisian institutions available to a broader French public, including a satellite (antenne) of the Louvre.[155] After several rounds of competition, a former mining site in the town ofLens was selected for its location and announced by Prime MinisterJean-Pierre Raffarin on 2004-11-29. Japanese architectsSANAA and landscape architect Catherine Mosbach were respectively selected in September 2005 to design the museum building and garden. Inaugurated by PresidentFrançois Hollande on 2012-12-04, the Louvre-Lens is run by theHauts-de-France region under a contract (convention scientifique et culturelle) with the Louvre for art loans and brand use. Its main attraction is an exhibition of roughly 200 artworks from the Louvre on a rotating basis, presented chronologically in a single large room (theGalerie du Temps or "gallery of time") that transcends the geographical and object-type divisions along which the Parisian Louvre's displays are organized. The Louvre-Lens has been successful at attracting around 500,000 visitors per year until the COVID-19 pandemic.[156]
TheLouvre Abu Dhabi is a separate entity from the Louvre, but the two entities have a multifaceted contractual relationship that allows the Emirati museum to use the Louvre name until 2037, and to exhibit artworks from the Louvre until 2027.[157] It was inaugurated on 2017-11-08 and opened to the public three days later. A 30-year agreement, signed in early 2007 by French Culture MinisterRenaud Donnedieu de Vabres and Sheik Sultan bin Tahnoon Al Nahyan, establishes that Abu Dhabi shall pay €832,000,000 (US$1.3 billion) in exchange for the Louvre name use, managerial advice, art loans, and special exhibitions.[158] The Louvre Abu Dhabi is located onSaadiyat Island and was designed by the French architectJean Nouvel and engineering firm ofBuro Happold.[159] It occupies 24,000 square metres (260,000 sq ft) and is covered by an iconic metallic dome designed to cast rays of light mimicking sunlight passing throughdate palm fronds in anoasis. The French art loans, expected to total between 200 and 300 artworks during a 10-year period, come from multiple museums, including the Louvre, theCentre Georges Pompidou, theMusée d'Orsay,Versailles, theGuimet Museum, theMusée Rodin, and theMusée du quai Branly.[160]
The Louvre is involved in controversies that surround cultural propertyseized under Napoleon I, as well as during World War IIby the Nazis.[161][162] In the early 2010s, workers' rights in the construction of Louvre Abu Dhabi were also a point of controversy for the museum.[163]
Napoleon's campaigns acquired Italian pieces by treaties, as war reparations, and Northern European pieces as spoils, as well as some antiquities excavated in Egypt, though the vast majority of the latter were seized as war reparations by the British army and are now part of collections of theBritish Museum. On the other hand, theDendera zodiac is, like theRosetta Stone, claimed by Egypt even though it was acquired in 1821, before the Egyptian Anti-export legislation of 1835. The Louvre administration has thus argued in favor of retaining this item despite requests by Egypt for its return. The museum participates too in arbitration sessions held viaUNESCO's Committee for Promoting the Return of Cultural Property to Its Countries of Origin.[164] The museum consequently returned in 2009 five Egyptian fragments of frescoes (30 cm x 15 cm each) whose existence of the tomb of origin had only been brought to the authorities attention in 2008, eight to five years after their good-faith acquisition by the museum from two private collections and after the necessary respect of the procedure ofdéclassement from French public collections before the Commission scientifique nationale des collections des musées de France.[165]
DuringNazi occupation, thousands of artworks were stolen.[166] But after the war, 61,233 articles of more than 150,000 seized artworks returned to France and were assigned to the Office des Biens Privés.[167] In 1949, it entrusted 2,130 unclaimed pieces (including 1,001 paintings) to the Direction des Musées de France in order to keep them under appropriate conditions of conservation until their restitution and meanwhile classified them as MNRs (Musées Nationaux Recuperation or, in English, the National Museums of Recovered Artwork). Some 10% to 35% of the pieces are believed to come from Jewish spoliations[168] and until the identification of their rightful owners, which declined at the end of the 1960s, they are registered indefinitely on separate inventories from the museum's collections.[169]
They were exhibited in 1946 and shown all together to the public during four years (1950–1954) in order to allow rightful claimants to identify their properties, then stored or displayed, according to their interest, in several French museums including the Louvre. From 1951 to 1965, about 37 pieces were restituted. Since November 1996, the partly illustrated catalogue of 1947–1949 has been accessible online and completed. In 1997, Prime MinisterAlain Juppé initiated the Mattéoli Commission, headed byJean Mattéoli, to investigate the matter and according to the government, the Louvre is in charge of 678 pieces of artwork still unclaimed by their rightful owners.[170] During the late 1990s, the comparison of the American war archives, which had not been done before, with the French and German ones as well as two court cases which finally settled some of the heirs' rights (Gentili di Giuseppe and Rosenberg families) allowed more accurate investigations. Since 1996, the restitutions, according sometimes to less formal criteria, concerned 47 more pieces (26 paintings, with 6 from the Louvre including a then displayed Tiepolo), until the last claims of French owners and their heirs ended again in 2006.[citation needed]
According toSerge Klarsfeld, since the now complete and constant publicity which the artworks got in 1996, the majority of the French Jewish community is nevertheless in favour of the return to the normal French civil rule ofprescription acquisitive of any unclaimed good after another long period of time and consequently to their ultimate integration into the common French heritage instead of their transfer to foreign institutions like during World War II.[citation needed]
In 2011, over 130 international artists urged a boycott of the new Guggenheim museum as well as Louvre Abu Dhabi, citing reports, since 2009, of abuses of foreign construction workers on Saadiyat Island, including the arbitrary withholding of wages, unsafe working conditions, and failure of companies to pay or reimburse the steep recruitment fees being charged to laborers.[171][172] According toArchitectural Record, Abu Dhabi has comprehensive labor laws to protect the workers, but they are not conscientiously implemented or enforced.[173] In 2010, the Guggenheim Foundation placed on its website a joint statement with Abu Dhabi's Tourism Development and Investment Company (TDIC) recognizing the following workers' rights issues, among others: health and safety of the workers; their access to their passports and other documents that the employers have been retaining to guaranty that they stay on the job; using a general contractor that agrees to obey the labor laws; maintaining an independent site monitor; and ending the system that has been generally used in the Persian Gulf region of requiring workers to reimburse recruitment fees.[174]
In 2013,The Observer reported that conditions for the workers at the Louvre and New York University construction sites on Saadiyat amounted to "modern-day slavery".[175][176] In 2014, the Guggenheim's Director,Richard Armstrong, said that he believed that living conditions for the workers at the Louvre project were now good and that "many fewer" of them were having their passports confiscated. He stated that the main issue then remaining was the recruitment fees charged to workers by agents who recruit them.[177][178] Later in 2014, the Guggenheim's architect, Gehry, commented that working with the Abu Dhabi officials to implement the law to improve the labor conditions at the museum's site is "a moral responsibility."[173] He encouraged the TDIC to build additional worker housing and proposed that the contractor cover the cost of the recruitment fees. In 2012, TDIC engagedPricewaterhouseCoopers as an independent monitor required to issue reports every quarter. Labor lawyer Scott Horton toldArchitectural Record that he hoped the Guggenheim project will influence the treatment of workers on other Saadiyat sites and will "serve as a model for doing things right."[173][179]
^TheNew Oxford American Dictionary gives the respelling "/'loov(rə)/", which has been converted to itsIPA equivalent. The portion within parentheses indicates a variant pronunciation.
^In LarousseNouveau Dictionnaire étymologique et historique, Librairie Larousse, Paris, 1971, p. 430: ***loup 1080, Roland (leu, forme conservée dansà la queue leu leu,Saint Leu, etc.); du lat. lupus; loup est refait sur le fém. louve, où le *v* a empêché le passage du *ou* à *eu* (cf. Louvre, du lat. pop. lupara)*** the etymology of the wordlouvre is fromlupara, feminine (pop. Latin) form oflupus.
^In Lebeuf (Abbé), Fernand Bournon,Histoire de la ville et de tout le diocèse de Paris par l'abbé Lebeuf, Vol. 2, Paris: Féchoz et Letouzey, 1883, p. 296: "Louvre".
^Robert W. Berger (1999).Public Access to Art in Paris: A Documentary History from the Middle Ages to 1800. University Park: Pennsylvania State University Press. pp. 83–86.
^Monaghan, Sean M.; Rodgers, Michael (2000)."French Sculpture 1800–1825, Canova".19th Century Paris Project. School of Art and Design, San Jose State University. Archived fromthe original on 20 April 2008. Retrieved24 April 2008.
^www.louvre.fr – Musée du Louvre – Exhibitions – Past Exhibitions – The La Caze Collection. Retrieved 23 May 2009.Archived 17 September 2011 at theWayback Machine
^Fernando da Silva, Alexandre (8 April 2021)."O Louvre ao alcance de todos!" [The Louvre within everyone's reach!] (in Portuguese). Jornal O Maringá. Retrieved25 July 2021.
^Valérie Coudin (Summer 2024), "Louvre en Avignon, Acte 2 : Rencontre entre Laurence des Cars, présidente-directrice du musée du Louvre, et Cécile Helle, maire d'Avignon",Grande Galerie – le Journal du Louvre,67: 14
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![Las Incantadas, sculptures from a portico that adorned the Roman Forum of Thessalonica, 150-230 AD[92]](/mt/?noimg=&dark=on&url=http%3a%2f%2fen.wikipedia.org%2fwiki%2fFile%3aLas_Incantadas_(Louvre)_4.jpg)
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![Henry II style wardrobe; c. 1580; walnut and oak, partially gilded and painted; height: 2.06 m, width: 1.50 m, depth: 0.60 m[100]](/mt/?noimg=&dark=on&url=http%3a%2f%2fen.wikipedia.org%2fwiki%2fFile%3aArmoire_Louvre_OA_6968.jpg)
![Louis XVI style commode of Madame du Barry; 1772; oak frame, veneer of pearwood, rosewood and kingwood, soft-paste Sèvres porcelain, gilded bronze, white marble, and glass; height: 0.87 m, width: 1.19 m, depth: 0.48 m[101]](/mt/?noimg=&dark=on&url=http%3a%2f%2fen.wikipedia.org%2fwiki%2fFile%3aCommode_de_la_comtesse_du_Barry_(Louvre%2c_OA_11293).jpg)
![Louis XVI style barometer-thermometer; c. 1776; soft-paste Sèvres porcelain, enamel, and ormolu; height: 1 m, width: 0.27 m[102]](/mt/?noimg=&dark=on&url=http%3a%2f%2fen.wikipedia.org%2fwiki%2fFile%3aBarom%25C3%25A8tre_-_thermom%25C3%25A8tre_(Louvre%2c_OA_10545).jpg)
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