As we all know Paris, the most romantic city is famous for its Art and Architecture. It is an Architects delight and one such structure witnessing this is The Louvre Museum or simply the Louvre. It is one of the world's largest museums, the most visited art museum in the world and a historic monument. A central landmark of Paris, it is located on the Right Bank of the Seine river. Nearly 35,000 objects from prehistory to the 19th century are exhibited over an area of 60,600 square meters.
The museum is housed in the Louvre Palace which began as a fortress built in the late 12th century. Remnants of the fortress are still visible. The building was extended many times to form the present Louvre Palace and during the French Revolution, the National Assembly decreed that the Louvre should be used as a museum, to display the nation's masterpieces.
Besides historic value attached to this structure owned by the French government, it is one of the master pieces in terms of planning. The Architect of Louvre Pyramid is the Chinese-American I.M Pei. His creation is already world famous and would certainly become a part of the architecture history of Paris. Pei is a Pritzker Prize winning architect and is known as the last master of high modernist architecture.
The 71 feet big pyramid in glass with its square base having sides of 35 metres (115 ft). It consists of 603 rhombus-shaped and 70 triangular glass segments, which rises in the middle of Cour Napoléon are surrounded by three smaller pyramids. The area between them is accentuated of shallow triangle-shaped basins in dark stone, which is lying a bit over the ground level. Fountains in the basins perfect the composition. The Pyramid was drawn to make light to the museum entrance below and brighten up the ground level and the stone front surrounds it. The realizing use of both material and colors allow the sky and the water become a part of the composition. The glass is a special design of Saint Gobain and was polished twice in France and Great Britain. It is fixed by a construction in stainless steel. The result is light and glistening, a balance between reflection and transparency against the heavy stone front, which is filled with the history of the centuries. This glass pyramid looks like a piece of topaz when illuminated in the night. It is so perfect with ample foreground and background space to view in every possible direction. The pyramid structure was engineered by Nicolet Chartrand Knoll Ltd. of Montreal (Pyramid structure / Design Consultant) and Rice Francis Ritchie (also known as RFR) of Paris(Pyramid Structure / Construction Phase).
The pyramid and the underground lobby beneath it were created because of a series of problems with the Louvre's original main entrance, which could no longer handle an enormous number of visitors on an everyday basis. Visitors entering through the pyramid descend into the spacious lobby then re-ascend into the main Louvre buildings. Several other museums have duplicated this concept, most notably the Museum of Science and Industry in Chicago. The construction work on the pyramid base and underground lobby was carried out by the Vinci construction company. The central courtyard is now occupied by the Louvre glass pyramid, which was completed in 1989. The entrance of the galleries lies below the glass pyramid. A very fascinating open lift for physically challenged and senior citizen is provided to take them to the underground museum. The museum in the underground level covers the complete area of the old Louvre structure.
The Louvre holds rich artistic heritage of the French people, ever since the early Capetian Kings through the Empire of Napoleon Bonaparte, to the present of this day.
Louvre's most famous piece is Mona Lisa. It was painted by the famous Italian renaissance artist Leonardo da Vinci. This is perhaps the most famous painting in the whole history. Few other works of art are as romanticized, mystified or reproduced as this painting. But works of famous artists like Rembrandt, Rubens, Fragonard and Titian can also been seen in Louvre. Besides art, Louvre also has many other types of exhibitions like archeology, history and architecture.
Louvre's most famous piece is Mona Lisa. It was painted by the famous Italian renaissance artist Leonardo da Vinci. This is perhaps the most famous painting in the whole history. Few other works of art are as romanticized, mystified or reproduced as this painting. But works of famous artists like Rembrandt, Rubens, Fragonard and Titian can also been seen in Louvre. Besides art, Louvre also has many other types of exhibitions like archeology, history and architecture.
