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Musee Du Louvre Pyramid
Musee Du Louvre is one of the most leading and must-see tourist destination in Paris. It's one of the largest and most prestigious museums in the world and home of 300,000 works of arts. This museum is highly enriched with thousands of master pieces of arts and ancient sculptures taken from different countries throughout the world. It's so huge that to walk the perimeter of the Louvre you would have to walk 3 miles/4.8 kilometer and need to spend about 5 weeks in the Louvre to fully appreciate the 65,300 pieces of arts. If you are an art lover you must be enlightened and delighted to see such a collection of historical paintings and sculptures from Egypt, Africa, Iran, Iraq, Greece, Italy and India.
Inside the Musium
On sunday morning when we reached the entrance of the museum a long queue of the visitors came into view. It was good that the day was the first sunday of the month, so we didn't need to buy ticket. On any other days tourists need tickets depending on the packages they want to see. There are three accesses:
Richelieu,
Sully and
Denon. If you don't wish to see the entire museum or are bit short of time you can choose some selective items first and then collect a guided map which is available in the information desk. Then decide which gate will be the best access to see your selected items. Cameras are allowed, so you can snap photos of the ancient arts and sculptures.
1. Richelieu Access:
14th to 17th century French Paintings
German, Flemish and Dutch Paintings, Northern Schools
Medieval, Renaissance, 17th ad 19th century Decorative Arts
Nepoleon lll Apartments
French Sculptures
Mesopotamia, Antique Iran
Islamic Art
2. Sully Access:
17th, 18th, 19th century French Paintings
17, 18th, 19th century Drawings and Pastels
17th, 18 th century Decorative Arts
Greek, Etruscan and Roman Antiquities
Pharaonic Egypt
Ancient Iran, Arabia, Levant
History of the Louvre, Medieval Louvre
3. Denon Access:
Italian and Spanish Paintings
19 th century Frence Paintings
Apollo Gallery, Crown Jewels
Italian, Spanish and Northern European Sculptures
Roman Egypt, Coptic Egypt
Arts of Africa, Asia, Oceania and the Americas.
Painted ceiling inside the Museum
Visitors will find a large book shop in the ground floor where a number of books related to Louvre and arts are available. Belows are the photos and brief descriptions of the most famous arts and sculptures of the museum. The photos are taken by me and the depictions are from a reference.
Most of the visitors are eager to see the Leonardo de Vinci's world famous painting Mona Lisa, it is in the 1st floor and easily accessible from entrance Denon. It's a oil painting on wood. You can be bit disappointed at the size of the portrait only 77 cm high and 55 cm wide.
Code of Hammurabi: Fisrt Babylonian dynasty, reign of Hammurabi (1792-1750 B.C)
Found at Susa, Iran. Origin: Mesoptamia, Iraq. This tall stele was discovered with other Mesoptamian war booty at Susa. The king of Babylon is portrayed at the top listening to the god Shamash,who is sittting on a throne in the form of a temple. The text, written in cuneiform script, is a code of laws regulating every aspect of daily life from agriculture, medicine and family affairs to theft, false evidence, ans assult and battery, the punishments for which vary according to the social status of the guilty party. The principle of '' an eye for an eye, atooth for a tooth'' was adopted by the jews exiled in Babylon.[1]
The great Sphinx: This momumental sphinx, guardian of the temple of Amun-Ra at Tanis in the northwest of the Nile Delta, is one of the largest now outside Egypt and posssibly one of the most ancient. The sphinx, a lion with a human head, symbolized the majesty of the pharaoh and was a ''living image'' of the king, whose feature it was usually given. It also symbolized the scared bond with the solar god.[1]
Seated Cat: C. 700-600 B.C. The profusion of ex-voto effigies of the goddess Bastet, represented by a cat, attests to her fervent worship, practicaly in her town, Bubastis, but also throughout Egypt.[1]
Sarcophagus of Tamutnefret:19th Dynasty, 1295-1186 B.C.
In Egyptian religion, the preservation of the mummy was primordisl in ensuring eternal rest in the ''house of eternity''. The bodies of the wealthiest, such as this singer of Amun, were placed in mummy-shaped coffins fitting inside one another and painted with symbolic scene, texts, and amulets ensuring their protection and the perpetuation of their name.[1]
Mummy: Ptolemaic period, 3rd-2nd century B.C.
The technique of mummification enableed ancient Egyptians to retain their living form for millennia and was one of the essential components of the cult of life in the afterlife. Evisceration, dehydration, unction, and embalming were the main processes the body underwent before it was wrapped in bandages and protected with amulets.[1]
Seated Scribe: 4th or 5th dynasty, 2600-2350 B.C. Sitting cross-legged with a papyrus on his knees, this high-ranking royal dignitary, whose name is unknown, is portrayed with striking realism. The eyes, insert with rock crystal, and the flesh tones are extraordinarily lifelike.[1]
Statue of Amenhotep IV: 18th dynasty, C.1350 B.C. Better known as Akhenaton, Amenhotep IV, husband of the beautiful Nefertiti, revolutionzed religion and art, and founded a new capital at Amarna. This fragment of a pillar showing the pharaoh holding his royal scepters obeys the new official canon with its androgynous overtones.[1]
Offering Bearer: Early 12th dynasty, C. 1950 B.C. The tombs of dignitaries were filled with statuettes of servants accompanying their deceased master in the afterlife. They provide a varied picture of daily life. This servant girl, whose elegant figure is characteristic of the art of the middle kingdom, is carrying a leg of beef and a water vase.[1]
Karomama, Divine consort of Amun: 22nd Dynasty,C.850 B.C. Amun's wife. the most beautiful bronze ever discovered in Egypt. The princess, granddaughter of Osorkon I, is shown with the attributes of the pharaoh and would have been holding sista to awaken the passion of her husband.[1]
Frieze of Archers: Achemenid dynasty, 522-486 B.C. Susa, Iran.
The wall of the palace of Darius I at Susa were covered with glazed terracotta brick reliefs whose purpose was to show the power and grandeur of the Persian Empire in keeping with an ancient Babylonian Tradition. The marching archers wearing ceremonial costume in this fragment could be the Immortals, the personal guard of the Great King described by Herodotus.[1]
Milo of Crotona: France, 1670-82.
Milo, hero of his town at the Olympic Games, wanted to try his strength on a tree but got his hand trapped and was devoured by wild beasts. This theme provides a pretext or a spectacular depiction of pride defeated by fate and of suffering.[1]
Aphrodite of Melos, Known as the Venus de Milo: C. 100B.C.
This statue of Venus, thegoddess of love, was inspired by the figures of Aphrodite sculptured by Praxiteles in th efourth century B.C.[1]
The Winged Victory of Samothrace: C. 190 B.C.
A monument commemmorating a Rhodian naval victory,Victory was originally stood on a base in the shape of a ship's prow in a sanctuary at the top of a cliff.[1]
[1]Louvre The 300 Masterpieces.
