PLACES OF INTEREST IN EUROPE |
|
|
 |
| In this section, you can find some of the most important places in Europe: monuments, museums or historical constructions.
Check the information below, and know more about the Louvre palace and museum. |
|
LOUVRE
|
|
Paris,
France |
|
 |
|
|
|
|
| |
Located in Paris, the
Louvre is one of the largest palaces in the world and, as a former
residence of the kings of France, one of the most illustrious. It
exemplifies traditional French architecture since the Renaissance,
and it houses a magnificent collection of ancient and Western art.
The first Louvre was a fortress built at the beginning of the 13th
century by Philip II Augustus to defend the Seine below Paris against
the Normans and English. It consisted of a thick cylindrical donjon
(dungeon) surrounded by towered walls.
This château, enlarged and embellished by Charles V in the
14th century, was sacrificed in the 16th century at the end of the
reign of Francis I in order to make room for a new Renaissance structure
of the same size. Only the west wing and part of the south wing
of the projected palace, conceived by the architect Pierre Lescot
and decorated with sculptures by Jean Goujon, were finished. In 1564 Catherine de Médicis
had her architect, Philibert Delorme, build a little château
in a neighboring field to the west called the Tuileries. It was
then decided to create a grandiose royal residence by joining the
Louvre and the Palais des Tuileries by a series of buildings. The
most important is the Grande Galerie built along the Seine in the
reign of Henry IV. In the 17th century Louis
XIII and his minister Richelieu extended Lescot's west wing northward
by adding the majestically domed Pavillon de l'Horloge (clock pavillion)
by Jacques Lemercier and recreating Lescot's building beyond it.
Under Louis XIV and his minister Colbert, the Cour Carrée,
a great square court, was constructed by Louis Le Vau. The east
facade of the east wing was later given a classical colonnade
by Le Vau and Claude Perrault. The royal apartments were sumptuously
decorated by Charles Le Brun and others, as the Galerie d'Apollon
still bears witness. The Louvre was abandoned as a royal residence
when Louis XIV moved the court to Versailles in 1682.
After the Revolution of 1789, Napoleon
I, later kings, and Napoleon III lived in the Tuileries. The Louvre
was used for offices and a museum. Along the Rue de Rivoli, Napoleon
I began a wing parallel to that of Henry IV along the Seine. Napoleon
III finished the wing, thus closing the great quadrilateral.
A few years later, during the uprising
of the Paris Commune in 1871, the Tuileries was burned. Paradoxically,
the disappearance of the Tuileries, which had originally brought
about the extension of the Louvre, opened the admirable perspective
that now stretches from the Arc du Carrousel west through the Tuileries
Gardens and the Place de la Concorde to the Place Charles de Gaulle.In the late 1980s the
Louvre embarked upon an aggressive program of renovation and expansion.
When the first plans by the Chinese-American architect I.M. Pei
were unveiled in 1984, they included a glass pyramid in the central
courtyard that would serve as the museum's main entrance. Despite
drawing protests before the fact, since its opening in 1989 the
pyramid has proven remarkably effective in accommodating the large
numbers of visitors, and has even become a relatively beloved landmark
of the city.
In November 1993, to mark its 200th anniversary, the museum unveiled
the Richelieu wing in the quarters that had been vacated, grudgingly,
by the Ministry of Finance in 1989. This expansion, which completed
the museum's occupancy of the palace complex, added 230,000 square
feet (21,390 sq meters) to the existing 325,000 square feet (30,225
sq meters) of exhibition space, and allowed it to put an additional
12,000 works of art on display in 165 new rooms.In 1793, during the Revolution,
the first state museum was opened in the Louvre, consisting of the
former royal collections of painting and sculpture. It was enriched
temporarily by loot from the Napoleonic wars and then permanently
by purchases and gifts, including archaeological finds. More and
more specialized divisions were created.
The present Louvre departments include Oriental (ancient Mesopotamian)
antiquities; Egyptian antiquities; Greek and Roman antiquities;
sculpture from the Middle Ages to modern times; furniture and objets
d'art; and paintings representing all the European schools. A section
of the museum is devoted to Islamic art.Universally famous ancient
works of art in the Louvre include a statuette of the Sumerian ruler
Gudea, a stele bearing Hammurabi's code, an Egyptian painted stone
statue of a scribe sitting cross-legged, the Venus de Milo, and
the Victory of Samothrace. Among outstanding later works are two
marble Slaves by Michelangelo, the treasure of the abbey of St.
Denis, and the French crown diamonds. Important paintings include
the Pietà of Avignon, Leonardo da Vinci's Mona Lisa, Veronese's
immense Wedding at Cana (which was badly damaged in 1992 while being
installed in the newly renovated galleries), and Watteau's Embarkation
for Cythera. The school of the Louvre
trains curators in history of art and archaeology. Special exhibits
are indicated in the Revue du Louvre.
Traces of the medieval fortress from
which the present day palace originates have been uncovered. Restoration
work on the Cour Carrée and the excavation required for construction
of the pyramid and the Carrousel area enabled archeological digs
to be undertaken, and for the various phases of occupation of the
palace and its quarters to be seen. The architectural structures
of the basement will henceforth be included in the visit tours.
Thus, it is possible to walk along the moats of the medieval fortress
under the Cour Carrée, to pass around the base of the dungeon
to get to the Salle Saint-Louis (13th century), or - when
going to the underground carpark - to walk along the so - called
Charles V Moats. Amongst the items discovered
during these digs, one of the most remarkable is a parade helmet
belonging to Charles VI, which was reconstituted from the one hundred
and sixty-nine fragments which were found scattered about. It is
on display in the Salle Saint-Louis (Sully Wing).
|
| |
|
| |
At TRAVEL WORLD EUROPE, you can find qualified information about the cities of Europe, such as population, language, history, places of interest and many more. In addition, we provide information about air and train tickets, accomodations, car rental and phone rental.
If you plan a trip to any place, or just want to get more information about Europe, TRAVEL WORLD EUROPE is your first destiny! |
| |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Bellow, you can find a listing with all the countries of Europe, their capitals and most relevant cities.
The cities in yellow are available to access. Into anyone, you can find a great amount of information referred to each destiny, such as population, language, history, places of interest and many more. |
|
|
|
| |
 |
Albania |
| Tirana |
| |
 |
Austria |
| Vienna |
|
|
 |
Andorra |
| Andorra
la Vella |
| |
 |
Azerbaijan |
| Baku |
|
|
 |
Armenia |
| Yerevan |
| |
 |
Belarus |
| Minsk |
|
| |
|
|
 |
Belgium |
| Brussels |
| |
 |
Croatia |
| Zagreb |
|
 |
Bosnia
and Herzegovina |
| Sarajevo |
| |
 |
Cyprus |
| Nicosia |
|
 |
Bulgaria |
| Sofia |
| |
 |
Czech
Republic |
| Prague |
|
| |
|
|
 |
Denmark |
| Copenhagen |
| |
 |
Finland |
| Helsinki |
|
|
 |
Estonia |
| Tallinn |
| |
 |
Georgia |
| Tbilisi |
|
| |
|
|
|
 |
Greece |
| Athens |
| |
 |
Republic of Ireland |
| Dublin |
|
|
| |
|
|
 |
Latvia |
| Riga |
| |
 |
Luxembourg |
| Luxembourg |
|
 |
Liechtenstein |
| Vaduz |
| |
 |
Republic of Macedonia |
| Skopje |
|
 |
Lithuania |
| Vilnius |
| |
 |
Malta |
| Valletta |
|
| |
|
|
|
 |
Monaco |
| Monaco |
| |
 |
Northern
Ireland |
| Belfast |
|
 |
Montenegro |
| Podgorica |
| |
 |
Norway |
| Oslo |
|
| |
|
|
 |
Poland |
| Warsaw |
| |
 |
San
Marino |
| San
Marino |
|
 |
Portugal |
| Lisbon |
| |
 |
Scotland |
| Edinburgh |
|
 |
Romania |
| Bucharest |
| |
 |
Serbia |
| Belgrade |
|
| |
|
|
|
 |
Slovenia |
| Ljubljana |
| |
 |
Switzerland |
| Bern |
|
|
| |
|
|
 |
Ukraine |
| Kiev |
|
 |
Vatican
City |
| Vatican
City |
|
 |
Wales |
| Cardiff |
|
| |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
