The Louvre Palace (France) is a museum and architectural complex in the center of Paris, which has been formed for many centuries. It originally housed a massive fortress, later rebuilt into an elegant royal residence. Today it is the world's greatest museum with a rich art collection.
Description
The largest historic mansion in Europe, converted into a museum, is located on the right bank of the Seine. For 800 years the complex was rebuilt many times. Architecturally, the Louvre absorbed elements of the Renaissance, Baroque, Neoclassicism and Eclectic styles. Separate buildings, attached to each other, as a whole form a powerful structure, erected according to the plan of an elongated rectangle. Definitely one of the most important sights in Paris is the Louvre Palace.
Complex plan includes:
- main building, consisting of three parts connected by galleries;
- underground exposition, the visible part of which is the glass pyramid in Napoleon's courtyard;
- carousel triumphal arch and gardenTuileries.
The complex of buildings with a total area of 60,600 m2 hosts a museum with more than 35,000 works of art. The world heritage is represented by paintings, sculptures, decorations, household items, architectural elements, covering the period from ancient times to the middle of the nineteenth century. Among the most valuable exhibits are a stele with the code of Hammurabi, a sculpture of Nike of Samothrace, the painting "Mona Lisa" by Leonardo da Vinci and other masterpieces.
Early Middle Ages
The Louvre Palace, whose history dates back to the 12th century, originally served purely defensive functions. During the reign of Philip-August II, a thirty-meter defensive tower, the donjon, was built outside of Paris. 10 smaller towers were erected around it, connected by a wall.
In those turbulent times, the main danger came from the north-west: at any moment the Vikings or pretenders to the French throne from the Plantagenet and Capetian clans could attack. In addition, the neighboring Duchy of Normandy was in alliance with the King of England.
The fortress performed a sentinel-defensive function. Separate parts of the tower can be seen in the basement. They belong to the exposition dedicated to the history of the Louvre and have been declared an archaeological reserve. It is possible that the king built the citadel on the foundations of an earlier defensive system. By the way, the word "Louvre" in the language of the Franks means "watchtower".
LaterMiddle Ages
In the second half of the fourteenth century, the Louvre Palace underwent dramatic changes. By that time, Paris had expanded considerably. New city walls were erected, and the old citadel was inside the city limits. The strategic importance of the defensive structure was leveled. Charles V the Wise rebuilt the fortress into a representative castle and moved his headquarters here.
The donjon was radically rebuilt. The internal layout was adapted for residential needs, a roof with pinnacles appeared. Residential and outbuildings of the same height were built around the quadrangular courtyard. Above the main gate towered two small elegant turrets, which gave the structure a certain elegance.
The lower part of the walls has partially survived to this day. The remains of buildings occupy a quarter of the east wing of the current Louvre. In particular, a quadrilateral around a square courtyard.
Renaissance
In the sixteenth century, Francis I decided to rebuild the Louvre Palace. The architect Pierre Lesko proposed to reconstruct the castle in the style of the French Renaissance. Work began in 1546 and continued under Henry II.
The new building was originally supposed to be rectangular with a large courtyard (Cours Caret), but eventually the shape was changed to square. During Pierre Lescaut's lifetime, only part of the west wing on the south side was built. These are the oldest fully preserved buildings of the current Louvre.
The architect widely used inclassical forms of architecture, combining them with the French traditional school (high roofs with mansards). The building is characterized by the harmonious articulation of the façade with three zones of discontinuities in the form of rectangular windows surmounted by triangular pediments separated by pilasters and arcades on the ground floor. The facade was supplemented with a large number of sculptural compositions. The Louvre Palace inside was no less impressive. Lesko, together with the sculptor Jean Goujon, built the Great Hall with the statue of Artemis.
Lock expansion
During the reign of Catherine de Medici, the Tuileries Palace was built nearby and the concept of adding the existing buildings of the Louvre to it was developed. Henry IV had to implement the project.
First, the Louvre Palace was cleared of the remains of the old castle and the courtyard was expanded. The architects Louis Methezot and Jacques Androuet then completed the Petite Gallery and began work on the Grand Gallerie, which connected the Louvre and the Tuileries.
Already at this stage, the complex becomes the center of science and culture. It housed a printing house, a mint. And later, sculptors, artists, jewelers, watchmakers, gunsmiths, carvers, weavers were allowed to settle and work in one of the buildings.
XVII century
The Louvre Palace continued to grow into the seventeenth century. Louis XIII picked up the baton of his ancestors. Under him, Jacques Lemercier in 1624 began the construction of the pavilion of the Clock, and to the north a building was erected - a copy of the gallery of Pierre Lescaut.
Louis XIV,having a weakness for grandiose projects, he ordered the old buildings to be demolished and the premises around the courtyard to be completed. All of them were designed in the same style. But the most ambitious task was the construction of the Eastern Colonnade.
Since this part of the palace faces the city, they decided to make it especially spectacular. The best European architects of that time were invited. The most daring project was presented by the Italian Giovanni Bernini. He proposed to demolish the palace altogether and build a new one. Given the difficulty and perseverance with which the complex was built by previous kings, the idea was rejected. Claude Perrault (the elder brother of the storyteller Charles Perrault) developed a compromise, from which they began to build on.
Face of Paris
The East Colonnade transformed the Louvre Palace. The description of the 173-meter building is characterized by experts as follows - this is the highest embodiment of the ideas of French classicism. Claude Perrault abandoned the massive Roman architecture that dominated at that time, the elements of which were semi-columns and pilasters. It was replaced by airy open columns in the Corinthian style, propping up a flat roof (which was also an innovation).
It's amazing that C. Perrault (actually self-taught) was able to give the building grandeur without the elaborate sculptures and "decorations" so popular in the 17th century. His ideas of a gigantic, slender order towering over a massive ground floor were taken up by architects throughout Europe. Similar types of buildings are found in St. Petersburg. The idea of placing columnsin pairs between the windows, on the one hand, allowed to maintain the airiness of the colonnade, on the other hand, to increase the amount of light entering the halls.
VXIII-XX centuries
During this period, the Louvre Palace loses its status as a royal residence. In 1682, King Louis and his retinue moved to Versailles. Many halls were left unfinished. Under Napoleon Bonaparte, construction continued. According to the Visconti project, the northern wing was completed. New galleries were erected - Fontaine and Percier.
In the 20th century (1985-1989), the famous architect M. Pei proposed a bold and elegant project for the museum's underground exposition. At the same time, an additional entrance to the Louvre was carried out through a glass pyramid, which at the same time was the dome of the underground hall.
Formation of collections
The unique collections of the Louvre began to form since the time of King Francis I, who admired Italian art. He collected Renaissance works in his country residence of Fontainebleau, which then migrated to Paris.
In the collection of Francis I were paintings by Raphael, Michelangelo, a collection of jewelry. In addition, the monarch invited the best Italian architects, painters, jewelers, and sculptors from the Apennines. His most famous guest was Leonardo da Vinci, from whom the Louvre inherited the painting "La Gioconda".
During the reign of the monarch Henry IV, the Louvre Palace in Paris became the artistic center of France. Dozens of famous masters worked in the Grand Gallery, whose creations became the basis of the future museum. Louis XIV also lovedeverything is beautiful. In his royal office, there were one and a half thousand paintings by French, Flemish, Italian, Dutch artists.
The Great French Revolution contributed to the development of the museum and its transformation into a public institution. Collections of kings, aristocrats, churches were nationalized and replenished the museum. The Napoleonic campaigns became the next source of replenishment of the expositions. After the defeat of Bonaparte, over 5,000 seized works were returned to their previous owners, but many remained in the Louvre.
Becoming a museum
The Constituent Assembly on 1791-26-07 ordered to collect "monuments of arts and sciences" in the Louvre Palace. The museum was opened to the public on 1793-18-11.
In the 20th century, the Louvre Palace, whose photo is striking in splendor, has undergone changes. An underground gallery with a glass pyramid was rebuilt, and the museum's collections were divided. Only works created before 1848 remained here. Later Impressionist paintings moved to the Musée d'Orsay and Impressionism. Those exhibits that were created after 1914 are located in the National Center. Georges Pompidou.
