Most people know The Louvre as the museum with the Mona Lisa in it, but it's actually so much more than that. The Louvre is the world's largest museum located on the Right Bank of the Seine in Paris. It is pretty much impossible to get through the entire museum in one day, however, if you stayed from open to close then you might be able to do it. According to History.com, there are 70,000 pieces of art and it is 650,000 square feet of gallery space.
Outside of The Louvre
One thing that you should know before going into the museum is that there are plaque's that say what the piece of art is, but they are all completely in French. Unless you want to take the time and Google every piece of art that interests you, then I would highly recommend that you pick up an audio guide at the beginning, which was the mistake I made. Don't try to aimlessly walk through the museum, you're not learning anything, you're just looking at the pieces and trying to guess what is going on.
Not only are the walls covered in hundreds of different art pieces but the architecture of the building is incredible. The outside it appears as a glass pyramid, and yeah that's cool but on the inside each room has a different feel. At times, I would often catch myself staring around the room rather than at the artwork on the walls.
Some of the architecture in the Louvre
Something that's interesting about The Louvre is that artists are able to come in and recreate the artwork. The artists just have to set up a time that they're going to come in and which piece of art they are going to recreate. I had the chance to see someone recreating a piece and it was truly incredible to see how it is done.
A local artist recreating a painting
The painting that this artist is recreating is called "Women of Algiers in their Apartment" and it is located in the part of the museum with the French paintings. The original artist of this oil based piece is Eugene Delacroix and it was created in 1834. This piece was based on Delacroix's visit to a Muslim Harem in Morocco.
And of course, the most important and well known piece of art in the Louvre is the Mona Lisa, which is a painting that was done by Leonardo Da Vinci and has been on display in the Louvre since 1797. This piece is so famous because it was one of the first paintings that used aerial perspective. According to ibtimes.com, the Mona Lisa attracts around six million visitors per year.
The Mona Lisa
