The original universal museum
The largest and most-visited art institution in the world, the Louvre was the first imperial treasure house in Europe. It contains countless masterpieces set in the vast splendor of a palace that housed the French monarchy from the 14th to the 18th century. Highlights include da Vinci’s “Mona Lisa”, antiquities such as the “Winged Victory of Samothrace” and the “Venus de Milo”, and a vast collection of grand-scale history paintings from the 19th century including “The Coronation of Napoleon” (1807) by Jacques-Louis David and “Liberty Leading the People” (1830) by Eugène Delacroix. I.M. Pei’s iconic glass pyramid extension, opened in 1989, is an internationally recognized architectural landmark, and the Louvre is renowned for its scholarship and curatorial programming.
Read Less
