| Louvre Pyramid | |
|---|---|
Pyramide du Louvre (French) | |
 The Louvre Pyramid in 2012 | |
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| General information | |
| Location | Paris, France |
| Coordinates | 48°51′39.6″N02°20′09.1″E / 48.861000°N 2.335861°E /48.861000; 2.335861 |
| Completed | 1989; 36 years ago (1989) |
| Design and construction | |
| Architect | I. M. Pei |
TheLouvre Pyramid (French:Pyramide du Louvre) is a large glass-and-metal entrance way and skylight designed by the Chinese-American architectI. M. Pei. Thepyramid is in the main courtyard (Cour Napoléon) of theLouvre Palace inParis, surrounded by three smaller pyramids. The large pyramid serves as the main entrance to theLouvre Museum, allowing light to the underground visitors hall, while also allowing sight lines of the palace to visitors in the hall, and through access galleries to the different wings of the palace. Completed in 1989 as part of the broaderGrand Louvre project,[1][2] it has become a landmark of Paris.
TheGrand Louvre project was announced in 1981 byFrançois Mitterrand, the president ofFrance. In 1983 the Chinese-American architectI. M. Pei was selected as its architect. The pyramid structure was initially designed by Pei in late 1983 and presented to the public in early 1984. Constructed entirely withglass segments and metal poles, it reaches a height of 21.6 metres (71 ft).[3] Its square base has sides of 34 metres (112 ft) and a base surface area of 1,000 square metres (11,000 sq ft).[4] It consists of 603rhombus-shaped and 70 triangular glass segments.[3] The sides' angle relative to the base is 51.52 degrees, an angle similar to that of ancient Egyptian pyramids.[5]
The pyramid structure was engineered by Nicolet Chartrand Knoll Ltd. ofMontreal (pyramid structure / design consultant) andRice Francis Ritchie ofParis (pyramid structure / construction phase).[6]
The pyramid and the underground lobby beneath it were created because of deficiencies with the Louvre's earlier layout, which could no longer handle the increasing number of visitors on an everyday basis.[7] Visitors entering through the pyramid descend into the spacious lobby then ascend into the main Louvre buildings.[5]
For design historian Mark Pimlott, "I.M. Pei’s plan distributes people effectively from the central concourse to myriad destinations within its vast subterranean network... the architectonic framework evokes, at gigantic scale, an ancient atrium of aPompeiian villa; the treatment of the opening above, with its tracery of engineered castings and cables, evokes the atria of corporate office buildings; the busy movement of people from all directions suggests the concourses of rail termini or international airports."[8]
Several other museums and commercial centers have emulated this concept, most notably theMuseum of Science and Industry inChicago andPioneer Place inPortland, designed by Kathie Stone Milano with ELS/Elbasani and Logan, Architects fromBerkeley, California.
The construction work on the pyramid base and underground lobby was carried out by theVinci construction company.[9]
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The construction of the pyramid triggered many years of lively aesthetic and political debate.[7] Criticisms tended to fall into four areas:
Those criticizing the aesthetics said it wassacrilegious to tamper with the Louvre's majestic old French Renaissance architecture, and called the pyramid an anachronistic intrusion of an Egyptian death symbol in the middle of Paris.[11] Meanwhile, political critics referred to the structure asPharaoh François' Pyramid.[10] Writing inThe Nation,Alexander Cockburn ridiculed Pei's rationale that the structure would help visitors locate the entrance: "What Pei really meant was that in our unfoldingfin de siècle, public institutions need an area (...) where rich people can assemble for cocktail parties, banquets and kindred functions, to which the word 'charity' is attached to satisfy bodies such as theIRS."[12] Some still feel the modernism of the edifice is out of place.[13][14][15]
The pyramid has a total of 673 panes, as confirmed by the Louvre,[3] 603 rhombi and 70 triangles. Three sides have 171 panes each: 18 triangular ones on the edges and 153 rhombic ones arranged in a triangle;[16] the fourth side, with the entrance, has nine fewer rhombic and two fewer triangular ones, giving 160.[17] Some commentators report that Pei's office counts 689.[18]
However, a longstanding rumor claims that the pyramid includes exactly 666 panes, "the number of the beast", often associated withSatan. The story of the 666 panes originated in the 1980s, when the official brochure published during construction cited this number twice. The number 666 was also mentioned in various newspapers. One writer on esoteric architecture asserted that "the pyramid is dedicated to a power described as the Beast in the Book of Revelation.... The entire structure is based on the number six."[19]
The myth resurfaced in 2003, with the protagonist of the best-selling novelThe Da Vinci Code saying: "this pyramid, at President Mitterrand's explicit demand, had been constructed of exactly 666 panes of glass — a bizarre request that had always been a hot topic among conspiracy buffs who claimed 666 was the number ofSatan."[20] In fact, according to Pei's office, Mitterrand never specified the number of panes.[18]
The Inverted Pyramid (Pyramide Inversée) is a skylight in theCarrousel du Louvre shopping mall in front of the Louvre Museum. It looks like an upside-down and smaller version of the Louvre Pyramid.
Designed for a museum that then attracted 4.5 million visitors a year, the pyramid eventually proved inadequate, as the Louvre's attendance had doubled by 2014. Over the next three years, the layout of the foyer area in the Cour Napoleon beneath the glass pyramid underwent a thorough redesign, including better access to the pyramid and the Passage Richelieu.[21]
Prior to designing the Louvre Pyramid, Pei had included smaller glass pyramids in his design for theNational Gallery of Art's East Building inWashington, D.C., completed in 1978. Multiple small glass pyramids, along with a fountain, were built in the plaza between the East Building and the pre-existing West Building, acting as a unifying element between the two properties and serving as skylights for the underground atrium that connected the buildings.[22] The same year the Louvre Pyramid opened, Pei included large glass pyramids on the roofs of theIBM Somers Office Complex he designed inWestchester County, New York.[23] Pei returned again to the glass pyramid concept at theRock and Roll Hall of Fame inCleveland, Ohio, opened in 1995.[23]
In 1839, according to one newspaper account, in ceremonies commemorating theJuly Revolution of 1830, "The tombs of the Louvre were covered with black hangings and adorned with tricolored flags. In front and in the middle was erected an expiatory monument of a pyramidal shape, and surmounted by a funeral vase."[24]
According to the memoirs ofMaximilien de Béthune, Duke of Sully, a 20 foot high pyramid, which stood opposite the Louvre with only a street between them, was torn down in 1605 because theJesuits objected to an inscription on a pillar.[25]
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