The louvre museum Automatic translate

The Louvre has been the main building of the French capital since the 12th century. It used to be a royal residence, but now it is one of the richest, largest and oldest museums in the world, a repository of huge collections of treasures of different civilizations and a symbol of Paris in the past, and of France now and in the future.

As a castle-fortress , the Louvre was founded in 1190, at which time King Philip-Auguste erected the Great Tower of the Louvre. The castle was needed to protect the lower Seine, which was often subjected to Viking raids. In 1317 the royal treasury was moved here and the castle became the royal residence.

The beginning of the history of the Louvre, which is now world famous, dates back to 1528, which was the year the aging Louvre Tower was demolished and in 1546 the expansion of the existing palace and the construction of new buildings began. A large number of exterior and interior structures were built in the Louvre from 1546 to 1682, many of them defining the look of the famous Louvre today. A square courtyard, the Louvre Colonnade, 2 new wings were built, and the new buildings made the palace 4 times larger.

Louis XIV made Versailles the royal palace in 1682, after which the Louvre remained in the shade for a long time, this led to such neglect that in 1750 the question of its demolition was raised. It can be said that the workers of Paris saved the palace from demolition. On a day which has gone down in history as “the march of the shopkeepers” - 6.10.1789, they staged a demarche to Versailles demanding that the royal family return to the capital.

The Louvre took its present form in 1871 after the Tuileries fire, which ended in its destruction. Only one detail was added to the Louvre in 1989 - a glass pyramid was erected in the center of the Napoleonic Courtyard by American architect Yo Ming Pei, which became the main entrance to the Louvre.

The Louvre houses more than three hundred thousand exhibits, many of them unique. The museum’s collection was enriched in various ways: the most famous exhibit - “Gioconda” Leonardo da Vinci was bought by King Francis I in 1519, The Venus of Milossa was found in Turkey (1820) and purchased by the French ambassador, the painting “Christ on the Cross” by El Greco cost the museum nothing, it was taken from the courthouse in Prades (Eastern Pyrenees), the painting “Marriage at Cannes” by Paolo Veronese was stolen in 1798 from a Venetian monastery. Also a large number of exhibits are generous gifts, spoils of war or finds by archaeologists. Today, the Louvre is the world’s most visited museum, and it is also the third largest.

Text sent by: busynka