La Musée du louvre is one of Paris' most famous landmarks, besides the Eiffel tower of course, and should definitely be on your list of places to visit in Paris! Le Louvre is the second largest museum in the world. Being simply magnificent, it not only contains thousands of pieces of historic and modern art but also has centuries of history within its beautiful structure.
HISTORY AND FEATURES
Le Louvre was built in the latter part of the twelfth century by Philip, the second, with its purpose being purely defensive, almost like a fortress. Later in the 1500s Francis, the first, changed its purpose, by converting it into a residence for the French kings at the time. Le Louvre was renovated multiple times after that and it was finally in 1682 that the majesty of this time, Louis the fourteenth, chose to move away from living in Le Louvre and took up residence in the Palace of Versailles. Thus using Le Louvre to house and display his royal collection. This was the birth of La Musée du Louvre, the first time Le Louvre had ever been used to house exquisite pieces of art. Little did Louis know that hundreds of years later, in the modern world, Le louvre would hold over 35 000 pieces of art, including pieces from the likes of Leonardo Da Vinci (the Mona Lisa) to Roman and Grecian sculptures, and be one of the top places to go in Paris and the world!
Le Louvre opened officially in 1783 and today is one of the most visited museums in the world having on average 15 000 people visiting per day, with sixty-five percent of that 15 000 being people from all over the world, visiting this magnificent museum exposing themselves to hundreds of years of history through art.
TIMES AND PRICES
La Musée du louvre is open every day of the week except for Tuesdays and has a variation of times in which you can access the thousands of pieces of art. Generally, the times of admission on a Monday, Thursday, Saturday, and Sunday are from 9 am to 6 pm, but on Wednesdays and Fridays le Louvre is open from 9 am to 9:45 pm allowing you to have the magical experience of La Musée du Louvre at night. Surveys have shown that Le Louvre sees most of its visitors between 12 pm and 6 pm every day, so if you're not a person that particularly likes crowds it would be best to visit the museum outside of that time period. The price of admission for Le Louvre also includes a pass into La Musée Eugene Delacroix for only €15. The pass is only valid for the day you bought it but has no time limit. For the savvy travelers, there is an opportunity to gain free admission into Le Louvre. Free admission can be gained, to view the permanent collections only, on the first Sunday of every month between the months of October and March. Also for travelers under the age of 26, you can qualify for free admission into Le Louvre after 6 pm on a Friday night.
