The Louvre, which we now know as one of the world’s foremost museums was built as a royal castle during the reign of Philippe Auguste in the 13th century. To be exact it was only intended to house the treasury, The Royal Achieves, a library and weaponry. The ruler himself had his shinning court in one of the picturesque war castles. After two centuries, Francis I decided to break with tradition and move in to Paris. He commissioned the architect Pierre Lescot to plan a palace fit for a King.
Katherine De Medici joined this castle with her Tuileries palace by having a long new wing built. Louie XIII quadrupled the size of the palace and the son king, Bonaparte and Napoleon III all enlarged it.
Recently in the 1980’s, the courtyard of the Louvre saw the completion of the controversial glass pyramid. The collection of the Louvre grew out of a long succession of French rulers. The museum was first opened to the public in the summer of 1793 following the French revolution. The number of exhibited artifacts now exceeds 200,000.
The catalogs of Egyptian and Greco-Roman material each contain 40,000 items. Jean-François Champollion played a large part in enriching the Egyptian collection. It was he who first decoded the hieroglyphics of the Rosetta stone. And it was under his direction that the museum acquired the statue of Venus de Milo. The art collection of the Louvre is so vast that its catalogs are close to a thousand pages long. Along the centuries many famous private collections ended up here such as that of the Roman count, Campana or the treasuries of the French collector La Caze or the Walter gallery.
The canvases of Ticciano, Rafaelo, Michaelangelo and of a whole host of Dutch painters, Dürer, Holbeon, Reubens and Rembrandt can be found here. Many of Leonardo Da Vinci’s pictures are also on view here, the most famous among them being the Mona Lisa, which by itself would be sufficient to fill the Louvre with visitors. Especially now, that one of the centuries best sellers, The Da Vinci Code has refocused attention on Leonardo and The Louvre.
The film version of the book was shot right here and starting Tom Hanks and Audrey Tautou. But there were earlier films here including the memorable Belfagor, the Phantom of the Louvre, first with Juliet Greco in the leading role and then in the remake, Sophie Marceau.
Plasma dome is also associated with the movie, The woman of the Plasma Dome starring Catherine Deneuve. The monumental octagonal Plus Mandome was vision of—, after whom Attic Rooms are also called—. The original occupant of the central space of the square where once stood the palace of the Prince of Vandome, was the equestrian’s statue of the Sun King. Swept away by the revolution it was replaced in 1806 by Napoleon statue atop of 43-meter column commemorating his victory at Austerlitz.
The opera is Napoleon III's gift to Paris. He announced the competition eventually won by Charles Garnier. This was his first grand project though later he also designed the casino at Monte Carlo. Beneath the 11,000 square meter opera there's a vast network of tunnels and a 1000 square meter artificial lake. Frederick Forsyth, the bestselling author conducted serious research on the building. The results are published in his volume entitled The Phantom of Manhattan. In 1907, a steel vault was constructed in the depths of the labyrinth in which they sealed recordings of the most famous opera singers to keep their voices alive for posterity. The vault was opened in 2007. It certainly is going to be elevating work to digitalize the voices of Chaliapin or Caruso and guard them safely for the future.
Transcription by:
Scribe4you Transcription Services