Louvre Museum

The Louvre Museum is the most important museum in France. Also, the most visited art museum in the world.

Open to the public since 1793, it was the museum that changed the game, being the first in history to put private collections of the aristocracy and monarchy in a gallery open to the public.

It has more than 470,000 works (7,000 are paintings) and is undoubtedly one of the places you have to see on your visit to Paris.

The Louvre Museum in history

The Louvre Royal Palace has dominated the city center since the 12th century. In 1190 there was a fortified enclosure here that later became a medieval castle and later a royal palace.

The building, which had various functions since its inception, underwent various renovations and extensions to become what we see today.

It was the residence of various monarchs, including the famous Sun King, Louis XIV, until the demolition of the Tuileries in 1882, when it was devoted almost entirely to culture.

During the Second World War, together with other museums in Paris, it hid the most important pieces and before the Nazi occupation it moved practically all the works to other places except for the heaviest ones, which were hidden in the basement; after the liberation of France, art returned to the Louvre.

More important works

It houses collections of Western art from the oldest civilizations and the Middle Ages up to 1850.

Divided into several sections: Oriental Antiquities, Islamic Art, Egyptian, Greek, Etruscan and Roman Antiquities, and paintings, sculptures, drawings and engravings from the modern era and up to 1848, it also has a department on the history of the Louvre itself and there are 21 new rooms dedicated to Italian and Spanish painting from the 16th and 17th centuries.

Here you can see true masterpieces such as the Venus de Milo and the Winged Victory of Samothrace, as well as the famous Mona Lisa and other famous works of Leonardo da Vinci.

The glass pyramid (main entrance through the central courtyard), designed by the architect Ming Pei, was inaugurated in 1989 on the occasion of the bicentennial of the French Revolution.

Napoleon III Apartments

In the Richelieu Wing you can visit the Napoleon III Apartments . The reception rooms, sumptuously designed in the Louis XIV style and leaving no one indifferent, have retained their original decoration and furniture.

Price

€17 – You can buy tickets online with fast access guaranteed within 30 minutes. You download it to your mobile and voilà.

Free entrance to the Louvre Museum:

• Under 18 years: free
• European citizens or with residence in Europe under 25 years of age: free
• You can get free entry to the Louvre Museum with the Paris Pass card
• The first Saturdays of the month from 6 pm to 9:45 pm
• Every Friday from 6 pm to 9:45 pm, admission to the museum is free for visitors under 26 years of age, regardless of country of residence.
• Bastille Day (July 14).

See more about free admission to museums in Paris.

Before entering the Louvre, we recommend you take part in a free tour of Paris with a guide in Spanish, an experience that will allow you to learn interesting details without spending too much. Many of the best free tours in Paris include the Louvre in their tour.

Schedules

Monday, Thursday, Saturday and Sunday 9:00 a.m.-6:00 p.m., Wednesday and Friday 9:00 a.m.-10:00 p.m. Closed on Tuesdays, January 1, May 1 and December 25.

Address

Place du Louvre

How to get

Metro lines 1 and 7, Palais Royal Musée du Louvre stations, Louvre-Rivoli / Buses: 21, 24, 27, 39, 48, 68, 69, 72, 76, 81, 95

See more Museums of Paris.