Parisian Museums
Paris, cradle of art and culture, is home to emblematic museums that tell the story
the history and creativity of humanity.
Musée du Louvre
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Arc de Triomphe
Pyramide Inversée
The Louvre has roots dating back to the 12th century, when King Philippe Auguste had it erected
in 1190 a fortified castle to protect Paris.
Charles V decided to make it a royal residence.
Over the centuries, François I, Henri II, Charles IX, Henri IV, Louis XIII and Louis XIV made it evolve through numerous works.
After his departure for Versailles in 1678, Louis XIV had sculptures installed in the Louvre Museum.
The Royal Academy of Painting and Sculpture organized its first exhibition in 1699.
This marks the beginning of the Louvre's association with the visual arts.
The Central Museum of Arts opened on August 10, 1793.
Visitors can admire the royal collections of paintings and antiques free of charge.
Following structural problems, it was closed from 1796 to 1801 for renovations.
François Mitterrand, President of the Republic, launches a major modernization project which gives rise, among other things, to the great Pyramid of the Louvre.
The Grand Louvre project consisted, after integration, of the Richelieu wing occupied by the Ministry finances to improve visitor circulation in the museum.
The Louvre pyramid was built between 1985 and 1989.
The first inauguration took place on March 4, 1988 and the second on March 29, 1989.
The total area of the Louvre Museum is approximately 210,000 m².
This makes it one of the largest museums in the world in terms of exhibition space.
More than 35,000 works on display, ranging from Antiquity to modern art. With 72,735 m² of rooms and galleries, the Louvre is the largest art museum in the world, in front of the Hermitage Museum in Russia and the National Museum of China.
The collections are divided into eight departments, covering Western art, ancient civilizations (Eastern, Egyptian, Greek, Etruscan and Roman), the arts of the first Christians and those of Islam.
It houses famous pieces such as Leonardo da Vinci's Mona Lisa, the Victory of Samothrace and the Venus de Milo.
The Louvre Museum is a major attraction that attracts millions of visitors each year.
Musée d'Orsay
The location of the museum was formerly occupied by the Palais d'Orsay, built from 1810.
This palace successively hosted the Council of State and the Court of Auditors.
During the Paris Commune in 1871, the entire neighborhood was burned down, leaving the charred walls
of the Palais d'Orsay in ruins for 30 years.
On the eve of the 1900 Universal Exhibition, the State ceded the land to the Orléans Railway Company.
This company planned to build a more central terminal station in place of the Palais d'Orsay.
The architect Victor Laloux was chosen to design the station which was inaugurated on July 14, 1900.
Inside, modernism and elegance coexisted: inclined planes, freight elevators, elevators and sixteen underground tracks.
It functioned as a station until the 1970s. François Mitterrand, Valéry Giscard d'Estaing and Jacques Chirac
inaugurated the Musée d'Orsay on December 1, 1986.
The Musée d'Orsay focuses on the period 1848-1914. It houses collections of modern art,
including major works by Vuillard, Bonnard, Signac, Seurat, Gauguin and Van Gogh.
The surface area of the museum is impressive with 72,735 m² of rooms and galleries.
Musée du quai Branly
The Quai Branly Museum - Jacques Chirac, formerly known as the Museum of Arts and Civilizations
of Africa, Asia, Oceania and the Americas, is an ethnographic museum located 37 quai Branly
in the 7th arrondissement of Paris in close to the whole of Eiffel.
The site initially hosted the National Furniture Guard in 1852, then the Trades Center
during the Universal Exhibition of 1937.
The museum project was led by Jacques Chirac and carried out by the architect Jean Nouvel.
It was inaugurated on June 20, 2006. The museum covers 40,600 m²,
of which 12,000 m² are dedicated to exhibitions.
Its collections cover African, Asian, Oceanian and American arts.
Since its opening, it has had more than 10 million visitors, placing it among
the busiest in the world in its category.
On June 21, 2016, it was renamed in honor of former president Jacques Chirac.
The emblem of the museum is a Chupicuaro statuette.