The Louvre Museum in Paris is situated in the Rue de Rivoli close to the Tuillerie Gardens. Probably the most famous museum in the world, the Louvre contains the largest number of exhibits anywhere all under the same roof. The building was originally designed as a palace. Built on the site of the medieval fortress of Philippe Auguste on the right bank of the river Seine it was the official residence of the French kings during the 16^th and 17^th Centuries until Louis XIV moved the Court to Versailles. A succession of architects and designers all left their own distinctive marks. It is not surprising then, that already on approaching the building one cannot fail to be impressed by its splendour.

Its endorsement as a museum came in 1793 after the Revolution and its extensive collection representing eleven millenia of civilisation and culture covers the Antiquities of the Oriental, Islamic, Egyptian, Roman and Greek empires as well as Painting, Sculpture, Decorative and Graphic Arts. These magnificent treasures are organised into seven separate sections and housed on four floors, three above ground and one below. Here is a selection of some of the best.

The most famous work in the Museum is perhaps the Mona Lisa, the painting which took the artist Leonardo da Vinci four years to complete and is said by some to be his most perfect work. The lady with the secret smile is thought to have been the wife of Francesco del Gioconde, a leading citizen of Florence.

An Egyptian sculpture known as The Seated Scribe has been dated back to between 2563 and 2423 B.C. and is believed to have come from a tomb of the Fifth Dynasty at Sakkara.

Venus de Milo which the Greeks called Aphrodite, but the Romans named Venus is estimated to be around 2100 years old. She is supposed to have been discovered on the island of Milos in the Aegean Sea in the Second Century B.C.

The artist Raphael Sanzio painted the Madonna and Child and St. John the Baptist in 1507. He is most renown for his depictions of Madonnas and his teachers included Michelangelo and Leonardo da Vinci. The influence of the latter can clearly be witnessed in this work.

Any lover of art and culture could easily spend a whole week visiting and revisiting the Louvre Museum and then still not have seen everything. I for one can let no trip to Paris pass without calling in at the Museum and loosing myself in the beauty of its riches. It has been a great pleasure to share here one of my favourite places to visit in this delightful city of charm and romance.

Click here to read Whitney Wickham's feature on the Louvre Museum.

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This article is republished with the authorization of Paris Eiffel Tower News - a great guide for a Paris vacation. Copyright (c) 2004 Paris Eiffel Tower News - All rights reserved.