Theme Week Paris – Arrondissement du Louvre (1th)

Tuesday, 18 October 2011 - 02:52 pm (CET/MEZ) Berlin | Author/Destination:
Category/Kategorie: General, Palaces, Castles, Manors, Parks, Paris / Île-de-France, UNESCO World Heritage
Reading Time:  6 minutes

Louvre © Benh LIEU SONG

Louvre © Benh LIEU SONG

Situated principally on the right bank of the River Seine, it also includes the west end of the Île de la Cité. The arrondissement is one of the oldest in Paris, the Île de la Cité having been the heart of the city of Lutetia, conquered by the Romans in 52 BC, while some parts on the right bank (including Les Halles included) date back to the early Middle Ages. It is the least populated of the city’s arrondissements and one of the smallest by area, a significant part of which is occupied by the Louvre Museum and the Tuileries Gardens. Much of the remainder of the arrondissement is dedicated to business and administration.

Besides the Tuileries Garden and several other parks and gardens, the 1st arrondissment is host to many sights, monuments and architectural impressive buildings, like Arc de Triomphe du Carrousel, at the eastern end of the Axe historique (“grand historic axis“), Banque de France headquarters, Comédie-Française, Crédit Foncier de France historical headquarters, The Louvre, Musée de la Mode et du Textile, Galerie nationale du Jeu de Paume, Les Arts Décoratifs, Les Halles, Musée du Barreau de Paris, Musée Grévin – Forum des Halles, Musée des Lunettes et Lorgnettes Pierre Marly, Musée de la Publicité, Palais-Royal, Hôtel de Rambouillet, Hôtel Ritz Paris, La Samaritaine, Pont Neuf, Pont des Arts, Avenue de l’Opéra (partial), Rue de Rivoli (partial), Place Vendôme with Vendôme Column and many others.

The Musée du Louvre, or officially Grand Louvre – in English, the Louvre Museum or simply the Louvre – is one of the world’s largest museums, the most visited art museum in the world and a historic monument. The Musée du Louvre contains more than 380,000 objects and displays 35,000 works of art in eight curatorial departments with more than 60,600 square metres (652,000 sq ft) dedicated to the permanent collection. The museum is housed in the Louvre Palace (Palais du Louvre) which began as a fortress built in the late 12th century under Philip II. Remnants of the fortress are still visible. The building was extended many times to form the present Louvre Palace. In 1682, Louis XIV chose the Palace of Versailles for his household, leaving the Louvre primarily as a place to display the royal collection, including, from 1692, a collection of antique sculpture. In 1692, the building was occupied by the Académie des Inscriptions et Belles Lettres and the Académie Royale de Peinture et de Sculpture, which in 1699 held the first of a series of salons. The Académie remained at the Louvre for 100 years. During the French Revolution, the National Assembly decreed that the Louvre should be used as a museum, to display the nation’s masterpieces.

Salle des Hommes © Chatsam Rubens Hall © Hofi0006 Richelieu wing © Gloumouth1 Pavillon Sully © Jastrow Pavillon de l'Horloge © Tangopaso Mona Lisa by Leonardo da Vinci Inverted pyramid - Main entrance © Piero d'Houin dit Triboulet Grand Salon © Zubro Grand Salle © Zubro Galerie Médicis © Ivo Jansch Façade Est du Palais du Louvre © Nitot Cour Puget © LPLT Cour Marly © LPLT Cour Carrée © King of Hearts Cour Carrée © Benh LIEU SONG Ceiling of the Rotunda of Apollo © Zubro Aerial view © Matthias Kabel 1st Arrondissement Metro map © Mark Mark Jaroski Galleria d'Apollo © Sailko Salle du Manège © Albeins Louvre © Benh LIEU SONG
<
>
Inverted pyramid - Main entrance © Piero d'Houin dit Triboulet
The museum opened on 10 August 1793 with an exhibition of 537 paintings, the majority of the works being royal and confiscated church property. Because of structural problems with the building, the museum was closed in 1796 until 1801. The size of the collection increased under Napoleon and the museum was renamed the Musée Napoléon. After the defeat of Napoléon at Waterloo, many works seized by his armies were returned to their original owners. The collection was further increased during the reigns of Louis XVIII and Charles X, and during the Second French Empire the museum gained 20,000 pieces. Holdings have grown steadily through donations and gifts since the Third Republic, except during the two World Wars. As of 2008, the collection is divided among eight curatorial departments: Egyptian Antiquities; Near Eastern Antiquities; Greek, Etruscan, and Roman Antiquities; Islamic Art; Sculpture; Decorative Arts; Paintings; Prints and Drawings.

By 1874, the Louvre Palace had achieved its present form of an almost rectangular structure with the Sully Wing to the east containing the square Cour Carrée and the oldest parts of the Louvre; and two wings which wrap the Cour Napoléon, the Richelieu Wing to the north and the Denon Wing, which borders the Seine to the south. In 1983, French President François Mitterrand proposed the Grand Louvre plan to renovate the building and relocate the Finance Ministry, allowing displays throughout the building. Architect I. M. Pei was awarded the project and proposed a glass pyramid to stand over a new entrance in the main court, the Cour Napoléon. The pyramid and its underground lobby were inaugurated on 15 October 1988. The second phase of the Grand Louvre plan, La Pyramide Inversée (The Inverted Pyramid), was completed in 1993. As of 2002, attendance had doubled since completion.

Here you can find the complete Overview of all Theme Weeks.

Read more on Musée du Louvre, Wikitravel 1st. arrondissement and Wikipedia 1st. arrondissement. Learn more about the use of photos. To inform you about latest news most of the city, town or tourism websites offer a newsletter service and/or operate Facebook pages/Twitter accounts. In addition more and more destinations, tourist organisations and cultural institutions offer Apps for your Smart Phone or Tablet, to provide you with a mobile tourist guide (Smart Traveler App by U.S. Department of State - Weather report by weather.com - Johns Hopkins University & Medicine - Coronavirus Resource Center - Global Passport Power Rank - Democracy Index - GDP according to IMF, UN, and World Bank - Global Competitiveness Report - Corruption Perceptions Index - Press Freedom Index - World Justice Project - Rule of Law Index - UN Human Development Index - Global Peace Index - Travel & Tourism Competitiveness Index). If you have a suggestion, critique, review or comment to this blog entry, we are looking forward to receive your e-mail at comment@wingsch.net. Please name the headline of the blog post to which your e-mail refers to in the subject line.




Recommended posts:

Share this post: (Please note data protection regulations before using buttons)

Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

We wish you a peaceful Advent season, Merry Christmas and a great start into a happy, amazing, healthy, awesome and successful New Year! 🕯 🎅 ✨ 🎄 🎁 🍾 🎆

We wish you a peaceful Advent season, Merry Christmas and a great start into a happy, amazing, healthy, awesome and successful New Year! 🕯 🎅 ✨ 🎄 🎁 🍾 🎆

[caption id="attachment_224634" align="aligncenter" width="590"]Christmas tree and Hanukkah menorah on Pariser Platz in front of the Brandenburg Gate in Berlin © Leonhard Lenz[/caption] Read more on Wikipedia Twelve Days of Christmas, Wikipedia Saturnalia, Wikipedia Advent and Wikipedia Christmas. For those who don't like Christmas, but still want to get through the time well and relaxed: makemeacocktail.com: Dirty Vicar!....

[ read more ]

Kalkar on the Lower Rhine

Kalkar on the Lower Rhine

[caption id="attachment_160965" align="aligncenter" width="590"] Boetzelaer Castle © flickr.com - Maarten Takens/cc-by-sa-2.0[/caption][responsivevoice_button voice="UK English Female" buttontext="Listen to this Post"]Kalkar is a municipality in the district of Kleve, in North Rhine-Westphalia. It is located near the Rhine, approx. 10 km south-east of Cleves. The most famous building of Kalkar is its church St. Nicolai, which has one of the most significant sacral inventory from the late Middle Ages in Europe. Kalkar was founded by Dirk VI of Cleves in 1230 and received city rights in...

[ read more ]

Hanoi in Vietnam

[caption id="attachment_168556" align="aligncenter" width="590"] Presidential Palace, formerly Palace of the Governor-General of French Indochina © flickr.com - helloandrew/cc-by-sa-2.0[/caption][responsivevoice_button voice="UK English Female" buttontext="Listen to this Post"]Hanoi is the capital of Vietnam and the country's second largest city by population. Its population in 2009 was estimated at 2.6 million for urban districts and 7 million for the metropolitan jurisdiction. The population in 2015 was estimated at 7.7 million people. From 1010 until 1802, it was the most important politic...

[ read more ]

Theme Week Cornwall - Port Isaac

Theme Week Cornwall - Port Isaac

[caption id="attachment_153193" align="aligncenter" width="590"] © Sbeech[/caption][responsivevoice_button voice="UK English Female" buttontext="Listen to this Post"]Port Isaac is a small and picturesque fishing village on the Atlantic Coast of north Cornwall. The nearest towns are Wadebridge and Camelford, both ten miles away. Port Gaverne, commonly mistaken to be part of Port Isaac, is a nearby hamlet that has its own history. The meaning of the Cornish name is "corn port", indicating a trade in corn from the arable inland district. Since the 1980s the village has served as backdrop to vari...

[ read more ]

Saint-Omer in the Nord-Pas-de-Calais region

Saint-Omer in the Nord-Pas-de-Calais region

[caption id="attachment_160649" align="aligncenter" width="590"] © Angel Aroca Escámez/cc-by-sa-3.0[/caption][responsivevoice_button voice="UK English Female" buttontext="Listen to this Post"]Saint-Omer is a commune in France. It is a commune and sub-prefecture of the Pas-de-Calais department 68 km (42 mi) west-northwest of Lille on the railway to Calais. The town is named after Saint Audomar, who brought Christianity to the area. The canalised portion of the river Aa begins at Saint-Omer, reaching the North Sea at Gravelines in northern France. Below its walls, the Aa connects with the Neuf...

[ read more ]

Hibiscus Island in the Biscayne Bay

Hibiscus Island in the Biscayne Bay

[caption id="attachment_216937" align="aligncenter" width="590"] Hibiscus Island entrance © Averette/cc-by-3.0[/caption][responsivevoice_button voice="UK English Female" buttontext="Listen to this Post"]Hibiscus Island is a neighborhood in the city of Miami Beach on a man-made island in Biscayne Bay, Florida, United States. Hibiscus Island lies just north of Palm Island. It is an exclusive residential neighborhood with relatively high property values. The island is accessible via the MacArthur Causeway. The dredging which created the reclaimed land on which Hibiscus Island sits was co...

[ read more ]

Theme Week Venice - Lido di Venezia

Theme Week Venice - Lido di Venezia

[caption id="attachment_27905" align="aligncenter" width="590"] Lido vaporetto terminal © Gary Houston[/caption][responsivevoice_button voice="UK English Female" buttontext="Listen to this Post"]The Lido – or Venice Lido (Lido di Venezia) – is an 11-kilometre (7-mile) long sandbar in Venice, northern Italy; it is home to about 20,000 residents. The sandbar form a barrier between the Adriatic Sea and the Venetian Lagoon. The Venice Film Festival takes place at the Lido every September. Venezia Lido, a public airport suitable for smaller aircraft, is found on the NE end of Lido di Venezia. ...

[ read more ]

Theme Week Guatemala - Tikal National Park

Theme Week Guatemala - Tikal National Park

[caption id="attachment_223458" align="aligncenter" width="590"] Tikal Plaza and North Acropolis © Bjørn Christian Tørrissen/cc-by-sa-3.0[/caption][responsivevoice_button voice="UK English Female" buttontext="Listen to this Post"]Tikal is the ruin of an ancient city, which was likely to have been called Yax Mutal, found in a rainforest in Guatemala. It is one of the largest archeological sites and urban centers of the pre-Columbian Maya civilization. It is located in the archeological region of the Petén Basin in what is now northern Guatemala. Situated in the department of El Petén, the ...

[ read more ]

Museum of Jewish Heritage in New York City

Museum of Jewish Heritage in New York City

[caption id="attachment_231138" align="alignnone" width="590"] Entrance © flickr.com - Shaggy Paul/cc-by-2.0[/caption][responsivevoice_button voice="UK English Female" buttontext="Listen to this Post"]The Museum of Jewish Heritage, located in Battery Park City in Manhattan, New York City, is a living memorial to those murdered in the Holocaust. The museum has received more than 2 million visitors since opening in 1997. The mission statement of the museum is "to educate people of all ages and backgrounds about the broad tapestry of Jewish life in the 20th and 21st centuries — before, during,...

[ read more ]

Portrait: Rudolf Diesel, inventor of the Diesel engine

Portrait: Rudolf Diesel, inventor of the Diesel engine

[caption id="attachment_217847" align="aligncenter" width="443"] Rudolf Diesel © volvotrucks.com[/caption][responsivevoice_button voice="UK English Female" buttontext="Listen to this Post"]Rudolf Christian Karl Diesel was a German inventor and mechanical engineer, famous for the invention of the Diesel engine, and for his suspicious death at sea. Diesel was the namesake of the 1942 film Diesel. The first successful Diesel engine ran in 1897 and is now on display at the German Technical Museum in Munich. Rudolf Diesel obtained patents for his design in Germany and other countries, including th...

[ read more ]

The MSC Musica

The MSC Musica

[caption id="attachment_203459" align="aligncenter" width="590"] at Santorini, Greece © A. Stumpf/cc-by-sa-3.0-de[/caption][responsivevoice_button voice="UK English Female" buttontext="Listen to this Post"]The MSC Musica is a cruise ship belonging to MSC Cruises. It was christened in Venice by the Italian actress Sophia Loren in June 2006 and went on its maiden voyage on July 1. The ship has four different restaurants, a sushi bar, an 800 m² casino, the Havana Club smoking room and a theater 1200 seats and a discotheque, as well as a tennis and a mini golf course. Other features: 16 ...

[ read more ]

Return to TopReturn to Top
Town Hall © Cédric Bonhomme
Theme Week Paris

Paris is the capital and largest city in France, situated on the river Seine, in northern France, at the heart...

Kilkenny Castle © Przemysław Sakrajda
Kilkenny City

Kilkenny is a city and is the county town of the eponymous County Kilkenny in Ireland. It is situated on...

© gira.com
Building automation

Building automation describes the functionality provided by the control system of a building. A building automation system (BAS) is an...

Schließen