On the morning of the last day of the year, we headed to the Louvre to explore the treasures of one of the most fantastic museums in the world. First, we visited the state apartments of Napoleon III, where we were simply amazed by the luxury and splendor of the nineteenth century. We admired the huge crystal chandeliers, the richly gilded stucco and the purple velvet tapestries in the great salon, as well as the dining room, where the ornate furniture and painted ceilings faithfully reflect the authority of the Second Empire. Then we turned to the world-famous masterpieces and were able to see in person those works that we had only known from pictures, such as the mysterious statue of Venus de Milo, the eternal smile of the Mona Lisa or the dramatic scene of the Raft of the Medusa. The museum’s corridors were filled with the giants of painting, including masters such as Leonardo da Vinci, Caravaggio, Rembrandt, Eugène Delacroix, Jacques-Louis David, Paolo Veronese, Titian and Rubens, whose numerous masterpieces enrich the collection.
The Egyptian section of the museum is a separate world within its walls, which guided us into the mystique of the age of the pharaohs. It was fascinating to see the carefully decorated sarcophagi and the small objects of everyday life that have survived millennia. The statue of the Seated Scribe, whose lifelike gaze almost pierces through time, as well as the huge temple gates and stelae inscribed with hieroglyphs, which testify to the greatness of a vanished but highly developed civilization, remained particularly memorable.
The history of the Louvre began at the end of the twelfth century, when King Philip II Augustus built a fortress on the banks of the Seine to protect Paris. The foundations, massive walls and remains of the moat of this medieval castle can still be seen on the lower level of the museum. At that time, the building was not yet a palace, but a bastion of military importance, which also housed the royal treasury and archives.
In the fourteenth century, Charles V had the fortress converted into a royal residence, but the Louvre’s current monumental appearance began to take shape during the Renaissance. Francis I demolished the old tower and built an elegant palace in its place, and subsequent monarchs, including Catherine de’ Medici, continued to expand the complex. It was at this time that the Louvre was connected to the Tuileries Palace, creating the vast courtyard and wings that now form one of the largest complexes in the world.
When Louis XIV, the Sun King, moved the court to Versailles at the end of the seventeenth century, the fate of the Louvre became uncertain. For a while, its halls were occupied by artists and academics, but then, guided by the ideas of the Enlightenment, the idea arose that the royal collection should be made accessible to the public. Finally, during the French Revolution, in 1793, it was officially opened as a museum, allowing the people to take possession of the treasures previously visible only to the aristocracy.
In the nineteenth century, Emperor Napoleon enriched the collection with numerous works of art during his campaigns, and the museum was briefly named after him. Later, under Napoleon III, the north wing was completed, giving the palace its final, closed form. It was during this period that the representative spaces and ornate suites that can still be admired today in the decorative arts department were also created.
The most significant change of the twentieth century was brought about by the “Grand Louvre” project in the 1980s under President François Mitterrand. It was then that the famous glass pyramid, designed by Ieoh Ming Pei, was built, providing a modern counterpoint to the historic facade and providing a new, spacious reception area for visitors. Today, the Louvre is not only a keeper of the past, but a living cultural center that attracts millions of people every year and, like us on this end-of-year morning, offers everyone an unforgettable encounter with the universal art of humanity.
