The Louvre and the Tuileries
The Louvre and the Tuileries are the starting points of the grand Historical Axis. This is "royal Paris", a district of the French capital that no visitor in Paris should miss. Palace of the Kings and Queens of France, the Louvre has now become one of the world's most visited museums. The gardens of the Tuileries provide a restful promenade right in the center of Paris. This magnificent vista runs through some of Paris' most celebrated monuments and squares: the Glass Pyramid of the Louvre in the Cour Napoléon, the Arc du Carrousel, the former Palace of the Tuileries destroyed in the 19th Century, and the gardens of the Tuileries.
The great perspective starts at the Louvre, immediately beyond the Church of St Germain l'Auxerrois, a Catholic Church in front of the entrance to the Louvre. This Renaissance palace was originally built to defend Paris against invaders, but was turned into a museum way back around 1793 and is now known throughout the world as 'the' museum to visit while on holiday in Paris, France.
The crab-shaped Palace was the main residence of the kings of France until 1682, when Louis XIV, the 'Sun King', moved his court to Versailles. It currently houses one of the world's most largest museums (and the most visited in the world) in a complex that is known as the "Grand Louvre".
A central landmark of Paris, it is located on the Right Bank of the Seine in the 1st arrondissement (district). Nearly 35,000 objects from prehistory to the 19th century are exhibited over an area of 60,600 square metres (652,300 square feet). Apart from some of the world's most famous works of art, such as Leonardo da Vinci's Mona Lisa, Madonna of the Rocks, The Virgin and Child with St. Anne, Jacques Louis David's Oath of the Horatii, Alexandros of Antioch's Venus de Milo, the Winged Victory of Samothrace, and Delacroix's Liberty Leading the People, there are some very impressive collections, which include Egyptian, Roman and Greek artefacts, sculptures, and other works of art dating back to the Middle Ages, right through to around 1850.
The Louvre definitely lives up to its reputation as 'the' museum to visit while in Paris and there is always something of interest for everyone, even for the children, and once you have been there, you will certainly want to return again.
Some like it, others hate it... the imposing but controversial Glass Pyramid commissioned by President Mitterand from Leoh Ming Pei has played a major role in the "Grand Louvre" in serving as its principal entrance since 1988. With a height of 20 metres and its some 670 glass segments, the transparent monument echoes the Obelisk that rears up towards the sky in Place de la Concorde.
Also noted is a particular statue of Louis XIV placed adjacent to the Pyramid and in the direct path of the Historical axis. The equestrian statue made in bronze portrays the Sun King as 'Alexander the Great'. It is a later copy of the original statue executed by Bernini in 1668 in marble to be displayed at Versailles.
The Jardin des Tuileries is one of Paris's most visited gardens, thanks to its central location between the Louvre and Place de la Concorde. Like the Jardin du Luxembourg, Jardin des Tuileries is one of those parks where you can grab a chair for free and sit wherever you like. The impeccably formal Gardens were designed and laid out from 1640 by André Le Nôtre along the Historical Axis that he started to trace. The entire garden is bordered along all its length, by Rue de Rivoli to the North and River Seine to the South. It remains the largest and oldest public garden in Paris today.
At the entrance to the Gardens is the Arc du Carrousel, a triumphal arch built by Napoleon from 1807 to 1808 to celebrate the victory of the French imperial army in Austerlitz. The monument was designed by Charles Percier and Pierre-François-Léonard Fontaine on the model of the Arch of Septimius Severus and the Arch of Constantine in Rome. The arch is relatively small compared to the famous Arc de Triomphe - 20 metres high. Remarkably renovated, its bas-reliefs depict the Peace of Pressburg, the 1805 campaign (Napoleon entering Munich, Napoleon entering Vienna, the Battle of Austerlitz, the Tilsit Conference) and the surrender of Ulm.
The Tuileries Gardens also features several fountains, two large basins, numerous sculptures and two museums, the Galerie Nationale du Jeu de Paume and the Musée de l'Orangerie, which displays Claude Monet's large water lily paintings . Those two buildings are the only remains of the original Palais de Tuileries.
From here, we retraced our walk towards Rue Rivoli and along the Seine River for more photo opportunities of the Louvre from across the River.