The Louvre

- Palais du Louvre -

Visit the official Louvre site for a virtual tour and much more information.
This place is hard to describe - you simply must see it! One visit is not enough either. Quite simply the Louvre is one of the most impressive museums in the world. This is a quote from William Hazlitt, writing about the Louvre in 1802 :

'You walked for a quarter of a mile through works of fine art; the very floors echoed the sounds of immortality...it was the crowning and consecration of art...these works instead of being taken from their respective countries were given to the world and to the mind and heart of man from whence they sprung...'

I think he put it rather well...

The museum is so immense, it has been divided into eight different categories. They are as follows - Oriental antiquities, Egyptian antiquities, Greek, Etruscan and Roman antiquities, Decorative arts, Sculpture, Painting, Graphic arts and the Medieval Louvre. I won't go into detail about what you can find in each section - visit the official site for a virtual tour or better still go to Paris!

You enter the Louvre through the large glass pyramid - well underneath it anyway.

Across the road from the pyramid there is a beautiful arc which leads towards the Jardins des Tuileries. The close up picture at the bottom was taken standing directly underneath the Arc.

The picture below shows the arc in the distance, it was taken inside the Jardins des Tuileries.