Louvre

loo'ver, a noted public building of Paris. It is one of the most extensive buildings in the world. It stands in the very heart of the city, extending along the north bank of the Seine for a distance of half a mile. The general plan of the building is that of a rectangle, except that it narrows gradually toward the east. The building includes three large courts and six small ones, in all forty-eight acres in extent. It represents a cost of many millions. The building has grown from two royal palaces half a mile apart. The old Louvre, at the extreme east, was a square, three-story building, including a large court. Catherine de Medici, not satisfied with the old residence, built the Tuileries, half a mile to the westward. The intervening distance was occupied by a labyrinth of narrow streets and mean buildings. These were subsequently removed and galleries were built from the old Louvre to the Tuileries, including the intervening space. The Tuileries were the city residence of the French monarchs during several reigns. Louis XVI was brought back from Versailles to the Tuileries by the market women. In 1792, it withstood an attack of 30,000 rioters armed with pikes. It was in this palace that the Swiss Guards defended the king, and it was in the Tuileries that the unfortunate monarch was arrested before his mock trial and execution. Napoleon I lived here for a time; so did Louis Philippe and Napoleon III. The abandonment of the palace by Empress Eugenie after the battle of Sedan marked the close of its history as a royal palace. In 1871 the Tuileries were burned by the Communists. Troops arrived from Versailles in time to save the Louvre and the galleries from serious danger. The rubbish of the Tuileries was subsequently carted away, and the gap replaced by a high iron fence. The old Louvre and the south gallery fronting the Seine are given over to art collections. The north gallery, fronting the Rue de Rivoli, that is to say, the side of the building farthest from the Seine, is occupied by city offices.

The Louvre collections date from the sixteenth century. Francis I was a patron of artists. Louis XIV and Cardinal Mazarin added largely to the collections of their predecessors. When the French armies returned from their victorious campaigns under Napoleon in Italy, the Netherlands, and Germany, they brought with them the art treasures of the museums and palaces of Europe to add to the collections of the Louvre. At the close of the Napoleonic wars many of these articles were returned, but the Louvre may still be termed without impropriety the art center of the world. It is said to require a brisk walk of two hours merely to pass through the suites of rooms and long galleries in which the various collections are displayed. The Egyptian Museum is the most important collection of the kind in Europe. The Asiatic Museum contains the French half of the treasures found in the excavations made on the site of ancient Nineveh, the other half being in the British Museum. The collection of ancient sculpture from Greece includes such works of art as the Victory of Samothrace, a celebrated statue of Mars, a fragment of the frieze of the Parthenon, and many other treasures, including the Venus of Milo, the most celebrated female statue in existence. There is also a collection of modern sculpture. There are over 2,000 paintings of high rank, including masterpieces by Titian, Raphael, Rembrandt, Murillo, Leonardo da Vinci, Durer, Holbein, Rubens, and Van Dyck. They are arranged according to schools. Collections of jewels, bronzes, porcelain, stained glass, and vases add to the renown of the Louvre. The French government takes the utmost pains to preserve the museums from danger by fire. They are thrown open to the public under proper guardianship. Certain rooms are set apart for the particular use of artists. Westward from the Louvre are the famous gardens of the Tuileries. They were at one time a royal pleasure ground, but are now thrown open to the public of Paris.