The Louvre Museum (Musée du Louvre) is the world’s largest art museum and a historic monument located in Paris, France.
It is a central landmark of the city and houses approximately 38,000 objects from prehistory to the 21st century over an area of 72,735 square metres (782,910 square feet).
In 2018, the Louvre was the world’s most visited art museum, receiving over 10.2 million visitors.
The museum is housed in the Louvre Palace, originally built as the Louvre castle in the late 12th to 13th century under Philip II. Remnants of the fortress are visible in the basement of the museum. Due to the urban expansion of the city, the fortress eventually lost its defensive function and, in 1546, was converted by Francis I into the main residence of the French Kings. The building was extended many times to form the present Louvre.
In 1682, Louis XIV chose the Palace of Versailles for his household, leaving the Louvre primarily as a place to display the royal collection, including, from 1692, a collection of ancient Greek and Roman sculpture.
During the French Revolution, the National Assembly decreed that the Louvre should be used as a museum to display the nation’s masterpieces and the museum opened officially on the 10th August 1793 with an exhibition of 537 paintings, the majority of the works being royal and confiscated church property. The collection was further increased during the reigns of Louis XVIII and Charles X, and during the Second French Empire the museum gained 20,000 pieces.
Most recently, music’s foremost power couple Jay-Z and Beyoncé shot their music video for “Apeshit” in the museum and it went viral for many reasons but most importantly because The Louvre is the height of exclusivity for shoot locations.
