Louvre Trivia | 40 interesting facts about the French museum

One of the most popular tourist attractions in Europe and in France, more specifically, is undoubtedly the Louvre Museum.

This is why we are about to “explore” a little bit more the Louvre, and find out more about it!

1. The Louvre or the Louvre Museum is the world’s largest art museum.
2. Also, it’s a historic monument in Paris, France.
3. It’s a central landmark of the city, and it is located on the Right Bank of the Seine in the city’s 1st arrondissement (district or ward).
4. Approximately 38,000 objects from prehistory to the 21st century are exhibited over an area of 72,735 square meters (782,910 square feet).
5. In 2019, the Louvre received 9.6 million visitors, making it the most visited museum in the world.
6. The museum is housed in the Louvre Palace, originally built as the Louvre castle in the late 12th to 13th century under Philip II.
7. Remnants of the fortress are visible in the basement of the museum.
8. Due to urban expansion, the fortress eventually lost its defensive function, and in 1546 Francis I converted it into the primary residence of the French Kings.
9. 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 ancient Greek and Roman sculpture.
10. 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.
11. The Académie remained at the Louvre for 100 years.
12. During the French Revolution, the National Assembly decreed that the Louvre should be used as a museum to display the nation’s masterpieces.
13. The museum opened on 10 August 1793 with an exhibition of 537 paintings.
14. The majority of the works were royal and confiscated church property.
15. Because of structural problems with the building, the museum was closed in 1796 until 1801.
16. The collection was increased under Napoleon and the museum was renamed Musée Napoléon, but after Napoleon’s abdication, many works seized by his armies were returned to their original owners.
17. The collection was further increased during the reigns of Louis XVIII and Charles X.
18. During the Second French Empire the museum gained 20,000 pieces.
19. Holdings have grown steadily through donations and bequests since the Third Republic.
20. The collection is divided among eight curatorial departments: Egyptian Antiquities, Near Eastern Antiquities, Greek, Etruscan and Roman Antiquities, Islamic Art, Sculpture, Decorative Arts, Paintings, and Prints and Drawings.
21. You can enter the museum underground from the aptly named Metro stop on Lines 1 and 7: Palais Royal Musée du Louvre. Both entrances will have lines, though — after all, this is the Louvre.
22. Only 5,000 of the Louvre’s extensive collection are by French artists.
23. The Louvre’s oldest works date back 9,000 years.
24. Also, a must-see is the famous Aïn Ghazal statue, which dates back to the 7th century B.C.
25. One of the most famous works is Victoire de Samothrace, a marble sculpture made between 220 to 185 B.C.
26. It portrays a winged Greek goddess who symbolizes victory. Excavators unfortunately never found the head. The sculpture itself was done in a Hellenistic style in which several blocks comprising the statue were carved and then reassembled later. You can find this sculpture in Room 703 on the first floor.
27. Another famous sculpture is the -also Ancient Greek- armless Venus de Milo. The Venus de Milo is similarly an ancient Greek sculpture inspired by a goddess – thought to be Aphrodite. It dates back to 100 B.C. You can find the Venus de Milo in Room 346 on the ground floor, which will be marked as Level 0.
28. The most famous of all artworks at the Louvre is the Mona Lisa.
29. It is protected by bulletproof glass, and armed guards.
30. The prized and priceless Leonardo De Vinci painting made headlines after it was stolen in 1911 and recovered two years later.
31. An annex of the Louvre in Lens, a Northern French town, opened in 2012.
32. There are two reasons for the Lens Louvre. One was to reduce the Paris crowds, while the other was to add a little bit of economic vitality to Lens.
33. By 2017, another Louvre came along, this time, in Abu Dhabi. France and the United Arab Emirates embarked on an agreement – a 1.3 billion dollar agreement – and leased artwork to the new museum.
34. Using the Louvre name cost $520 million alone.
35. Despite that, there is not a pyramid. The design in Abu Dhabi is more of a flat gray dome.
36. The Louvre pyramid and the Rock ‘n’ Roll Hall of Fame in Cleveland were designed by the same person.
37. It was the Chinese-American architect Ieoh Ming Pei. He won the commission to renovate the museum and designed a 70-foot pyramid in 1989.
38. You can admire Napoleon III’s opulent apartments inside the Louvre.
39. On any given day, only 10% of the museum’s massive collection is available to the public.
40. The museum is free in Paris on the first Sunday of every month all day and on the first Saturday of each month only in the evening, starting at 6 p.m. It is also free for EU citizens 25 years old or under.