The History of the Louvre

The Louvre is one of Paris’s most famous landmarks and attracts millions of people each year. It was built in the 12th century by Phillip II and only small remnants of the original building remain in the crypt of the existing palace. It is believed that the Louvre was constructed on an existing tower in the same area of Paris although it is not know whether it was the first building to be built in that area.

The Louvre’s name translates into a masterpiece in an oak forest. This is because the original building was surrounded by an oak forest in the 12th century.

During the Middle Ages The Louvre Palace was regularly changed and the fort was converted into a residence and redecorated in renaissance style by Francis I. Francis I was also the King who made the Louvre the home of Leonardo Da Vinci’s Mona Lisa. In 1682, Louis X1V decided to live in Versailles and the Louvre was used as a residence for French artists.

In the 18th century, The Louvre was turned into an exhibition of the royal collections after high public demand under Louis XV. They were displayed to the public on Wednesdays and Saturdays and included Andrea del Sarto’s Charity and works by Raphael. This later became a policy of Louis XVI until the French Revolution.

In 1791, the newly formed French assembly made the Louvre “a place for bringing together monuments of all the sciences and arts” and in 1792 the royal collection became national property.

The museum officially opened in 1793 on the 10th August. This was to commemorate the first anniversary of the old monarchy’s demise. The exhibits contained paintings and objects from the royal collection and the church. The Republic also added pieces such as Laocoön and His Sons and the Apollo Belvedere. These were seized by France’s revolutionary armies.

Napoleon I further added to the collection due to his military victories in Spain, Austria, Holland and Italy as well as constructing a northern wing. The museum was renamed the “Musée Napoléon” in 1803 in honour of these achievements. After Warterloo however, the museum’s acquisition of new pieces slowed. Louis XVIII and Charles X between them added 135 pieces at a cost of 720,000 francs but the museum was in no way as affluent as it once was.

When the French Second Republic was created in 1848, the government paid two million francs to repair the existing museum and to complete Galerie d’Apollon, the Salon Carré, and the Grande Galerie.
After the rise of the second French empire on 2nd December 1851, President Louis-Napoléon Bonaparte added 20,000 new pieces to the Louvre’s collection.

In 1863, an expedition to the Aegean Sea uncovered the sculpture Winged Victory of Samothrace. The piece has been on display since 1884 and another 7000 pieces were added before WWI including Rembrandts, such as Bathsheba at Her Bath.

The museum was cleared entirely in WWII just before Hitler’s armies invaded Paris until its liberation in 1945. The Musée du Louvre soon became home to the World’s most important collections of Art and ancient artefacts with 380,000 objects and displays and attracts over 15000 visitors per day. It also became famous worldwide as the alleged final resting place of Mary Magdalene in the film The Da Vinci Code.