Louvre
2 of the 7 encyclopedias on this shelf carry an entry for Louvre. Both are reproduced below, so you can see where they agree and where they differ.
Aiton's Encyclopedia (1910)
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.
Collier's New Encyclopedia (1921)
the name of a celebrated public building of Paris, sit situated in the N. part of the city, near the right bank of the Seine. It was originally a hunting lodge, and later a castle, begun about 1204. Charles V. (1364-1380) added some embellishments to it, and brought thither his library and his treasury; and Francis, in 1528, erected that part of the palace which is now known as the gallery of Apollo. Henry IV. laid the foundation of the gallery which connects the Louvre on the S. side with the Tuileries. Louis XIII. erected the center; and Louis XIV., according to the plan of the physician loft, a wrought- Perrault, the elegant façade toward the Matsys, and E., together with the colonnade of the St. Gertrude's Louvre. When the great number of works of art seized in Italy by the armies of Napoleon made it necessary to assign a proper place for their reception, the architect Raimond was selected to conduct the work. After the Restoration the work was again brought to a standstill; and nothing was done till after the revolution of 1848. A resolution having been passed by the provisional government in favor of the completion of the whole building, the foundation-stone of the new Louvre was laid July 25, 1852, and the work completed in 1857, at a cost of nearly 6,000,000 francs. The Louvre now consists of two parts -the old and new Louvre. The former is nearly a square, 576 feet long and 538 wide, and inclosing a quadrangle of about 400 feet square; its E. façade, looking toward the church of St. Germain l'Auxerrois, is a colonnade of 28 Corinthian columns, and one of the finest works of architecture of any age or country. The new Louvre consists of two vast lateral piles of buildings, projecting at right angles from the two parallel galleries, which formerly joined the old Louvre with the Tuileries and formed the E. boundary of the Place du Carrousel. Turning into the Place Napoléon III. they present on each side a frontage of 590 feet, intersected by three sumptuous pavilions intended to accommodate the minister of state, the minister of the interior, and the library of the Louvre. Some of the galleries on the upper stories are set apart for permanent and annual exhibitions of works of art. The total space covered or inclosed by the Louvre is nearly 60 acres. During the World War the chief art treasures were removed from the Louvre and concealed, and elaborate precautions were taken to prevent its injury or destruction by German airraiders.