Le Louvre - French Palace

The History of Le Louvre

        Le Louvre was a French palace built in the late 12th to early 13th century, and is now the national museum of art in Paris, France. Philip II Augustus, the first person to be officially known as the King of France, had Le Louvre built on what used to be France’s western border, along the River Seine in order to prevent invasions from the north, Normandy and England in particular. The original structure consisted of towered walls with bastions in each corner and a 98-foot tower in the center. Its first modification occurred in the 14th century, when Charles V enlarged the structure; however his more extensive plans were halted by the Hundred Years War. After this took place, Le Louvre fell into disuse until the year 1527, when Francis I ordered for the original structure be sacrificed in favor of a new, more Renaissance-style structure. This was a century long expansion plan drawn up by the architect Pierre Lescot, and only the west wing and  part of the South wing’s plans were completed.

        In 1564, Catherine de Medici, Queen during the reign of Henry II and regent of France when he passed in 1559, ordered her architect to build a smaller château in a neighboring field of Le Louvre called the Palais des Tuileries. It was later decided to join both Le Louvre and the Palais des Tuileries through a series of buildings to create a more grandiose royal residence.

        During the 17th century, modifications continued with Louis XIII extending Pierre Lescot’s west wing by adding the Pavilion de l’Horloge, or ,“clock pavilion”  and Louis XIV added a great square court. The east wing and the royal apartments were also renovated and re-decorated during this time. In 1682, when the construction of the Palace of Versailles was completed, the French court moved from Le Louvre in Paris to the Palace Versailles, abandoning Le Louvre as a royal residence.

        After more than a century afterwards, a series of Bourbon kings picked up construction on the site until the French Revolution in 1789, and with the fallen monarch and his family residing in the Palais des Tuileries, the new National Assembly decreed Le Louvre be handed over to the government in hopes of it being turned into a national museum. In 1793, Le Louvre first opened its doors as a national museum with an exhibit consisted of over 500 paintings, most of which had been confiscated from the Royal Family and nobility during the Napoleonic wars.

        During the Paris Commune in 1871, the Tuileries had been burned down, thus opening up the original plan of the joining of the two buildings. In the late 1980’s, an aggressive renovation and extension plan was put in place for Le Louvre. A glass pyramid was added to the central courtyard, marking the main entrance. The pyramid, which still stands today, was the idea of Chinese-American architect Ieoh Ming Pei, and has drawn many visitors and now serves as a beloved landmark to the city, despite early protests of the idea. In 1993, the Richelieu wing was unveiled in lieu of Le Louvre’s 200th anniversary, the area that was renovated had been abandoned since 1989. This final expansion added 230,000 square feet to the already existing 325,000 square feet of exhibition space. It gave way to 165 new rooms added to the palace/museum, and made room for an addition 12,000 works of art.