Tuesday, May 26, 2009

Postcards from Paris - Musee du Louvre


La Venus de Milo - La Jaconde - La Victoire de Samothrace

Musee du Louvre
Tuilleries Quarter
Open 9 am - 6 pm Wednesday through Monday (closed Tuesday)
Free first Sunday of the month

The Musee du Louvre is home to one of the largest and most important art collections in the world. This vast museum, which began as a medieval fortress in the late 12th century, includes collections of:
European Painting 1200 - 1850
European Sculpture 1100-1850
Oriental antiquities
Egyptian antiquities
Greek, Etruscan and Roman antiquities
Arts of Islam, Africa, Asia, Oceania and the Americas
Objects d'art (decorative arts like jewelry, furniture, tapestries)

Most people come to the Louvre to see the infamous Mona Lisa (La Gioconda) by Leonardo da Vinci, 1504 and never take time to see the many treasures in the Louvre. Sometimes I've been the only person in the galleries containing objects d'art. But is there any less artistry in this exquisite tapestry Eros and Psyche (c.1770)?