Top 15 Facts About the Louvre Museum

Top 15 Facts About the Louvre Museum

Originally published by Natalie in November 2019 and Updated by Ruth in August 2022 and Updated by Vanessa R in July 2023

Arguably the most famous museum in the world, the Louvre has had an interesting journey in terms of its history in Paris.

We find the Louvre in the 1st arrondissement of Paris, close to the les Halles district. It has won the award for most visited museum in the world for many consecutive years now, attracting close to 10 million visitors annually.

1. The Louvre Museum is the Biggest Museum in the World

In addition to being the most visited museum in the world, the Louvre is also the biggest.

So big, in fact, that you can hardly tell that you’re sharing the space with 15,000 other visitors at any given time.

Louvre – by Valentin B. Kremer – Unsplash

The Louvre was originally built as a grand fortress in Paris, and was later turned into a royal palace in the 16th century before becoming a museum in 1793. It was shut down for a while when the infrastructure proved to be unfit for regular visitors.

The next biggest museum on the planet would be the State Hermitage Museum in St Petersburg, Russia.

2. It Would Take 100 Days to See All of the Art in the Louvre Museum

It is impossible, as a human being, to see the entire Louvre museum in just one day. In fact, even a month of exploring this space wouldn’t be enough.

If you were to spend 30 seconds on each piece of art in the Louvre, it would take 100 consecutive days to get through them all. That is without sleep, breaks or mealtimes.

While exploring the Louvre Museum, you might want to meander through the charming streets of Le Marais, one of Paris`s historic districts. The best part? It’s a fair fifteen-minute walk away. For an in-depth exploration of Le Marais, consider joining our Le Marais guided tour.

Louvre – by Maggie Jaszowska – Unsplash

3. The Louvre is the Home to the Mona Lisa Painting

The most famous museum in the world is fittingly home to one of the most famous paintings in the world.

Leonardo da Vinci’s Mona Lisa is a permanent resident at the Louvre museum.

This famous artwork is responsible for a large portion of the visitors that make their way to this museum each day. So much so, that the painting is now kept behind a glass barrier, and there are barricades preventing anyone from getting too close for comfort.

She’s a lot smaller than you think!

by Zach Dyson – Unsplash

4. 66% of the Art in the Louvre was Made by French Artists

The most recent estimation as to how many painting hang in the Louvre brings the number close to 7500.

Of this amount, over 66% are creations by artists who would have been French locals.

The galleries displaying these paintings are divided into eight departments:

Near Eastern Antiquities

Egyptian Antiquities

Greek, Etruscan and Roman Antiquities

Islamic Art

Sculptures

Decorative Arts

Paintings

Prints and Drawings

5. The Louvre Was Used by the Nazis During the War

During World War II, the Nazis raided homes and businesses across the country and removed artworks at their discretion.

This stolen art needed housing, and the Louvre was emptied out and used as a storeroom for all that they acquired.

In 2018, the Louvre put on a display of a series of paintings that were once looted by said Nazis. An interesting representation of a time not very long ago at all. 

Louvre – by Clark Van Der Beken – Unsplash

6. Some Believe the Louvre Museum to be Haunted

It is believed by some visitors and museum workers that a mummy named Belphegor haunts the hallways of the Louvre Museum. Since the building dates back to 1190, this would be unsurprising.

The Tuileries Gardens, on which the Louvre Museum is built, are also believed to be haunted by a ghost who appears in the color red. He’s been spotted by multiple individuals and is described as “totally unthreatening” — good to know!

7. Napoleon Renamed the Louvre Museum During his Reign

When Napoleon came into power, he put his ego front and center and renamed the Louvre Museum the Musée Napoleon.

He expanded the museum’s collection by roughly 5000 paintings, however these were returned to their rightful owners when the leader fell from power.

Napoleon also took the Mona Lisa into his private quarters and hung the painting for the first time. 

Louvre – by Tanya Prodan – Unsplash

8. The Glass Pyramid is 21m High

The pyramid in question was only added to the Louvre’s grounds very recently in the 1980s.

Surprisingly, it was not a French architect who was selected for the job, but rather a Chinese man named I.M. Pei.

The main pyramid has become an important and recognizable part of the Parisian skyline, and there are three smaller versions of the structure in the surrounding courtyard.

by RAFAEL MIRANDA – Unsplash

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9. The Louvre’s Galleries Span Over 15 Acres

Which makes sense when you consider the fact that there is an estimated 380,000 pieces of art inside of the Louvre museum, but only 35,000 of them are actually out for public display.

As visitors, we are only seeing a very, very limited percentage of the total sum of art on these grounds. 15 acres seems like the necessary amount of space to hold this number of items, don’t you agree?

10. Abu Dhabi Opened a Louvre Museum of Their Own

For most of history, there was only one Louvre museum in the world. As of 2016, Planet Earth is now home to two official Louvre Museums open to the public.

Abu Dhabi now houses the first universal museum in the Arab world. The Abu Dhabi Louvre is also the largest art museum on the Arabian peninsula. Construction of this monument cost the country over €600 million to complete, and at present the museum sees about one million visitors per year.

Louvre Abu Dhabi – by Francisco Anzola – Wikimedia Commons

Whether you’re visiting Paris or the Middle East, find one of the Louvres and lose yourself in the history for a few hours. Just don’t get lost for too long; 100 days without sleep, remember?

11. The Louvre is the Most-Visited Art Museum in the World

The Louvre is the most visited museum in the world followed by the National Museum of China, the Tate Modern in London, and the Vatican Museums. It reached the status of being the most-visited museum in 2018 when it crossed the 10 million visitor mark.

The number of visitors that the Louvre sees was affected by the Covid-19 pandemic, which forced the museum to shut for 150 days in 2020. That year, the Louvre attendance dropped by 72 percent from 2019. Despite this, the Louvre continues to see millions of visitors and continues to be the most visited museum in the world with about 15,000 people visiting the Louvre daily.

12. The Lourve was Originally a Fortress

Louvre Palace, Paris, France by Jebulon – Wikimedia Commons

The history of the Louvre dates all the way to 1190 when it was constructed as a fortress by King Phillip II of France to protect the city from outsiders. The fortress was completed in 1202, and in the 14th century, King Charles V turned the Louvre into the royal residence.

It was amidst the riots and the bloodshed during the French Revolution that the Louvre museum was born. Once Louis XVI was imprisoned, the royal collection became national property.

In 1793, the Louvre opened to the public as Muséum central des arts de la République. At the time, the museum’s collection included 537 paintings and 184 objects of art.

13. The Louvre was Empty During World War II

As soon as the conquests began, Hitler’s army engaged in systematic plunder of artworks from museums as well as private art collections. The assistant director of the French National Museums, Jacques Jaujard, foresaw that Louvre needed to be protected. 

Ten days before the war was declared. ordered that 3,690 paintings, as well as sculptures and works of art, be wrapped, boxed, and carried to safe places.

Jaujard managed to pull it off nonetheless. Between August and December 1939, two hundred trucks carried the treasures of the Louvre in nearly 1,900 boxes. Each track was accompanied by a curator. 

During the German invasion of France, 40 museums were either destroyed or badly damaged. However, when they arrived at the Louvre, the Nazis were greeted with empty frames.

14. The Mona Lisa was stolen from The Lourve in 1911

Leonardo da vinci, la gioconda by Sailko – Wikimedia Commons

On 21 August 1911, Italian handyman Vincenzo Peruggia stole the masterpiece from the Louvre. The painting, which at that point had not quite yet captured the attention of millions, suddenly was brought to everyone’s attention. 

Images of the artwork appeared in international newspapers and eventually became a household name. For two years, as Mona Lisa catapulted to fame, she remained in the dark. 

Even Pablo Picasso was a suspect until the glazier tried to sell the painting to an Italian art dealer, who alerted the authorities. The Mona Lisa was recovered and by the time she returned home, she had become the most famous painting in the world.

15. There are Actually Five Pyramids in the Louvre

Not many people are aware that the iconic I. M. Pei Pyramid is not the only pyramid at the Louvre. In fact, there are a total of five pyramids at the Louvre. 

Three of them are the small glass pyramids surrounding the I.M. Pei pyramid. These three have been positioned so that they create light shafts that help highlight the museum’s collection. 

The fifth pyramid is the Louvre Pyramide inversée (inverted pyramid) in Carrousel du Louvre.

And, for those intrigued by further exploration of Paris, why not enhance your experience by joining our guided walking tour? Uncover the city`s hidden gems and delve into its rich tapestry beyond the iconic Louvre.

Top 3 Facts About the Louvre Museum Architecture

1. It is a self-supporting structure with no pillars

The Pyramid of the Louvre is a building that stands 21.65 metres above the ground and, technically, has a base area of 1,000 square metres. 95 tonnes of steel, 105 tonnes of aluminium frames, and 673 glass lozenges make up the self-supporting, pillar-free structure. The Cheops Pyramid in Egypt’s dimensions and the pyramid’s slope, which is 51 degrees, are both identical.

As soon as the excavation work began, workers found remnants of mediaeval Paris, including King Charles VI’s ceremonial helmet. The architects predicted that this construction project would take ten years to complete. The Louvre Glass Pyramid was completed four years after the preventative archaeological work, which was completed in a record time of one year to keep to the timeline.

2. New glass was created specifically for this project

DiscoA340, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons

I.M. Pei insisted on complete transparency in the Glass Pyramid so as not to interfere with the view of the majestic Louvre structure. Because glass has a slightly bluish or greenish tint, finding clear glass was quite difficult. So, he asked Saint-Gobain, a French manufacturer, to develop a unique glass especially for the undertaking.

This 21.5-millimetre extra-clear laminated glass, called “Verre Diamant,” was developed after months of in-depth research and boasts excellent mechanical and optical qualities. It took the firm two years to get it perfect, and to remove the iron oxides (and prevent any green reflection), a special furnace had to be built.

3. The Glass Pyramid at the Louvre has some French architectural traditions

Pyramidal forms were actually used as monuments, cenotaphs, or for other purposes by French Neoclassical builders of the late 1700s such as Boullée, Lequeu, and Ledoux. Moreover, the 3,300-year-old Egyptian Obelisk that was transported from the Luxor Temple in 1833 sits just next to the Glass Pyramid and is only a short distance from the Louvre.