A visit to Louvre museum , Paris



Louvre at night

Louvre at day

I entered Paris via Brussels and Antwerp. It was about 6 Pm when we reached the outskirts of Paris and it was Friday. We were greeted by heavy weekend traffic. There was seemingly endless traffic jam something which we find in Delhi.  It was little surprising for me to see such a jam, which I thought was something unique for the cities like Delhi, Kolkata or Mumbai in India. We were travelling in a group and most of us seemed amused and some of us exclaimed “it happens in Paris too!” Paris definitely is a big city especially when compared with Amsterdam, Brussels or Antwerp that we have been to before visiting Paris. We all looked tired and the sight of the heavy traffic made us feel even more tired. Suddenly someone yelled”look there is Eiffel tower” and the sight of that magnificent world famous monument suddenly made us full of energy and all the tiredness seemed disappeared. After a crawl of more than an hour, we finally reached the hotel- “Mercure paris porte de Versailles expo hotel”. The good thing about hotel was its location, which was near expo centre.

We had two full days at our disposal for sightseeing and we did make full use of it. The Saturday forenoon was scheduled for a visit to Louvre museum, which is the largest museum in the world. It is located on the right bank of the river Seine. The museum is housed in the Louvre palace which began as a fortress built in the late 12th century under Phillip II. Remnants of the fortress are visible in the basement of the museum. Nearly 35,000 objects from prehistory to the 19th century are exhibited over an area of 60,600 square meters). With more than 8 million visitors each year, the Louvre is the world's most visited museum. Most of the paintings of the Renaissance portray a lot of nudity and a reluctant colleague did ask our guide what that meant. We were told that portray of nudity meant liberation of mind and soul and freepeople. Although, the guide, while explaining looked little uncertain himself. The Louvre also houses the Pyramid, which was completed in 1989 after the grand Lovre Plan was initiated by French President François Mitterrand in 1983.The glass pyramid is now one of the major attractions of the museum.But the most sought after object in the museum is the simple portrait of a sublimely smiling Italian noblewoman who the world know by “monalisa”-the master piece of Leonardo Da Vinci. Mona lisa’s real name was Lisa Gherardini and she was the wife of Francesco del Giocondo, a Florentine nobleman. Taking a snap of this master piece is no less than an adventure with so many crowds and everyone desperate to click this masterpiece. It needs a real nerve to reach near the portrait and get oneself clicked with this masterpiece. The popularity that this master piece enjoys can give complex to any living super star. Well I did make an effort to click my photo with the iconic master piece and was successful too.

 

 

 

Besides Monalisa the Winged Victory is another most celebrated sculpture in the world. The compelling marble sculpture dated 220-190 BC, is prominently displayed and is quite breathtaking. Venus de Milo, Napoleon’s apartment, Hammurabi’s code, cupid and Psyche are other notable works of art in the museum. Venus de Milo, is an ancient statue of Aphrodite Carved by Alexandros, a sculptor of Antioch on the Maeander River in about 150 B.C, It was found on the Aegean island of Melos in 1820. I personally found it interesting. The Code of Hammurabi is a well-preserved Babylonian law code, dating back to about 1772 BC. It is one of the oldest deciphered writings of significant length in the world. Louvre also houses apartments of Napoleon, which we could not find time to see. That’s what happens if we are not well informed about the place. Antonio Canova's sculpture Cupid and Psyche is another attraction. Its an erotic sculpture about a famous greek myth. The museum is so big that entire one day may not be enough to see the whole of museum. Its always better to know the famous ones, so as to avoid disappointment of not been able to see these famous ones.

 

After spending the forenoon at the museum, we had a small round of the nearby areas. Napoleon's Triumphal Arch is another important landmark in the vicinity of Louvre museum. The arch was commissioned by Napoleon in 1806 to commemorate his victories, but he was ousted before the arch was completed. In fact, it wasn't completed until 1836 during the reign of Louis-Philippe. The Arc de Triomphe is engraved with names of generals who commanded French troops during Napoleon's regime. The design of the arch by Jean Chalgrin is based on the Arch of Titus in Rome. In fact I am lucky to have seen both the arches. These arches resemble our own India Gate at Delhi.

We also went across the sculpture of Joan of Arc . We had earlier read about her in books and magazine. Joan of Arc, nicknamed "The Maid of Orléans", is a folk heroine of France and a Roman Catholic saint. She was born a peasant girl in what is now eastern France. This simple young woman from a small town in eastern France accomplished in her life and death. Joan saved her people and united all of France by winning several important battles at Orleans and Patay in what is now known as the Hundred Years War. Joan completely reversed the course of this war and kept France from becoming a colony of the English. The golden sculpture looks attractive and we could not resist taking pictures.

 

After taking a quick round of the area and a bit of window shopping, we ended our first day in Paris. Although, Paris is known for its night life, we decided to stay back in our hotel since the weather was playing spoil sport with drizzle and chill.