ASIANOVERLAND.NET WINTER EUROPEAN DAY 3/176:  THE LOUVRE TO MONMARTRE, PARIS, FRANCE

“DAY 3, 14/12/80, THE LOUVRE, MONTMATRE, SACRE-COEUR, THE BIG STEEL TOWER

At brekky, Corrie was nominated and then awarded the Dale Award. She wore Dale proudly through the Louvre and finally in a brave moment she called “Dead Ants, Dead Ants” in a Restaurant- Bar. The Aussies went DOWN and the Frogs bumped UP their prices.”

One of my favourite walking tours is through the Louvre Museum, the world's largest art museum on the Right Bank of the Seine in the 1st arrondissement. Approximately 38,000 objects from prehistory to modern times are exhibited over an area of 72,735 square meters.

The Louvre is the most visited museum in the world, housed in the Louvre Palace, originally built as the Louvre castle in the late 12th century. Remnants of the fortress are visible in the basement, in the antiquities section, a must-see. Over four centuries, the fortress eventually lost its defensive function, and in 1546 was converted into the primary residence of the French Kings. 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, the majority being royal and confiscated church property.

The collection was increased under Napoleon, but after Napoleon's abdication, many works seized by his armies were returned to their original owners. 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.  The collection is divided among eight curatorial departments: Egyptian Antiquities; Near Eastern Antiquities; Greek, Etruscan and Roman Antiquities; Islamic Art; Sculpture; Decorative Arts; Paintings; Prints and Drawings.

The Mona Lisa is a half-length portrait painting by  Leonardo da Vinci, a masterpiece of the Italian Renaissance, described as "the best known, the most visited, the most written about, the most sung about, the most parodied work of art in the world".

It was acquired by King Francis I and is now the property of the French Republic, on permanent display at the Louvre, since 1797. The Mona Lisa is the most valuable paintings in the world.

The Basilica of the Sacred Heart of Paris, known as Sacré-Cœur, is a Roman Catholic church  at the summit of the Montmartre, the highest point in Paris. It is a popular landmark, the second-most visited monument in Paris. Construction began in 1875 and was completed in 1914, and both a political and cultural monument, representing a national penance for the defeat of France in the 1870 Franco-Prussian War.

Montmartre is a large hill in the 18th arrondissement, 130 m high, primarily known for its artistic history, the white-domed Basilica of the Sacré-Cœur on its summit, and as a nightclub district.

Near the end of the 19th century and at the beginning of the twentieth, during the Belle Époque, many artists lived in, had studios, or worked in or around Montmartre, including Modigliani, Monet,  Renoir, Toulouse-Lautrec, Picasso, and Vincent van Gogh. During our night walking tour, Corrie had her portrait drawn by a local artist at Montmatre, which is pictured alongside the Mona Lisa.

↑ Day 175 ↓ Day 177