★★★★★ 5.0
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Louvre Museum
Those four towering stone giants carved into the Pavillon Sully's facade aren't just decoration... they're caryatids holding up the weight of eight centuries of royal ambition. You're standing in the Cour Carrée, where every French king from the medieval fortress builders to Louis XIV left their personal monograms carved into the stone as architectural signatures. Beneath your feet lie the massive stone walls of King Philip II's original fortress from 1190, built before he departed for the Crusades. This 160-meter square courtyard replaced a medieval stronghold that once protected Paris from Viking raids along the Seine. The genius of this place? Despite being constructed over 250 years by different rulers, the architects deliberately copied each other's work to create perfect visual harmony. Look closely at the Pavillon de l'Horloge... that ornate clock tower became the template for every dome you see stretching toward the Seine. Walk through any entrance here, and you'll discover that controversial glass pyramid everyone debates about was actually designed to honor André Le Nôtre, the same landscape architect who created Versailles' gardens three centuries earlier.
Did You Know?
- The Louvre began as a medieval fortress built by King Philip II in the late 12th century to protect Paris, with a massive central tower that once housed royal treasures and even served as a high-security prison for famous figures like Ferdinand, Count of Flanders, after the Battle of Bouvines in 1214.
- During the French Revolution, the Louvre was transformed into a public museum on August 10, 1793, opening with 537 paintings—most from royal and confiscated Church collections—and was initially free to the public three days a week, a radical move that symbolized the new Republic’s commitment to art and education for all.
- The museum’s collection dramatically expanded under Napoleon, who renamed it the 'Musée Napoléon' and filled its galleries with art seized during his European campaigns, including masterpieces from Italy and the Vatican; some, like the statue of the Tiber, remain in the Louvre today, while others, such as the Horses of Saint Mark, were later returned to their countries of origin.