Behind the largest museum in the world (whose security is notoriously lax, as we know from a certain infamous jewelry theft) lies a palace which has undergone many transformations over its 800 years. It is difficult to find the palace behind this titanic museum, but the task is not completely impossible.
King Louis-Auguste and the dungeon. The Louvre fortress is built in 1187 under the leadership of the authoritarian and very Christian King Louis-Auguste. The fortress is small compared to what we know today, it is square and has in the middle of its courtyard a dungeon, which symbolizes royal authority but which also houses the royal treasure: money, joys and… draperies and fabrics – expensive at the time. This dungeon also has defensive functions, since it allows the surveillance of the city and the Seine river, which can possibly carry possible enemies – let us not forget that Normandy is at the time in the hands of the Plantagenets, the kings of England.
All that remains of this period are the foundations, the stones of which are marked by the workers who wrote their mark on them in order to be paid.
Italian call. During the reign of King François the First (1515-1547), the medieval castle turns into an Italian-inspired palace. Passionate about the artistic movement of the Renaissance, the King wants to give his new home the splendor and luxury that he has admired in Italian palaces.
In 1528, the architect Pierre Lescot demolishes the dungeon which sits in the middle of the castle courtyard.
The Louvre palace under the reign of François the First
It is nevertheless under the reign of the son of François the First Henri II – that the most important transformations take place, notably the construction of the Lescot wing, which perfectly encapsulate the architectural style of the French Renaissance.
A Renaissance castle. The Caryatids Hall – Room 348, Sully Wing, Level 0 – takes us into the heart of the Renaissance Louvre palace.
It is probably one of the most beautiful architectural testimonies of the Louvre from the Renaissance. The ballroom of the Kings of France marks the beginning of this new artistic style in Paris.
It is during the reign of Henry II that the Caryatids Hall is built – named after the four caryatids which support the musicians’ balcony.
These columns which date from 1550 are the work of the sculptor Jean Goujon, who is inspired by Antiquity, reinterpreting a monument from the 2nd century BC, the forum of Emperor Augustus in Rome.
The Caryatids Hall
The Cariatids Hall
The widow of Henry II, Catherine de Medici, gives new impetus to the Louvre Palace, by having the Tuileries palace built to the West, without knowing that the two palaces would one day be connected.
The Tuileries palace
From King Henri IV to King Louis XIV. In 1817, King Louis XVIII has the woodwork and ceilings of the Sovereign’s former apartment dismantled. They are later installed on the first floor of the Sully wing, which houses the preserved elements of the old State bedroom fitted out for King Henry II, and subsequently transformed by King Louis XIV.
The furniture in the room such as the large ceremonial bed has long since disappeared, but the conservation of these decorative sets is indicative of the policy carried out under the French Restoration period aimed at preserving royal souvenirs, even if it meant moving them.
The King’s ceiling. The ceiling is made in 1556. The sculptor Étienne Carmoy provides the model to a famous Italian carpenter, Francisque Scibec de Carpi. The arms of France sit in the central part of the ceiling, framed by military symbols
The doors and the wooodwork
King Henri IV (1589-1610). The King plans to establish the Bourbon dynasty and the Louvre palace shall be the reflection of such dynasty: he forms the “Grand Design” of the Louvre, which would connect the Louvre palace to the Tuileries palace.
The Grand Design
An immense construction of almost 460 meters is built along the Seine and redeploys the spaces of the Louvre palace around a much larger central courtyard which quadruples the old medieval courtyard. However, the “Grand Design” would only succeed under the reign of Napoleon III, who would stay in the Tuileries palace. Sadly, the Tuileries palace would burn down in 1871.
The Tuileries palace after the fire in 1871
The Sun King. In 1661, a fire destroys the magnificent Little Gallery, which dated from the reign of King Henri IV. His grandson King Louis XIV immediately undertakes to rebuild an even more beautiful gallery, and entrusts the work to the architect Louis Le Vau.
Aged 23, the young King has just chosen the sun as his emblem. This will therefore be the theme of the new gallery which is named after the Greek god of light and arts, Apollo. The King’s First Painter, Charles Le Brun, is responsible for designing the decor which would become, twenty years later, the model for the Hall of Mirrors of the Palace of Versailles.
It goes without saying that through Apollo, the Apollo gallery exalts the glory of the Sun King.
(And yes, this is indeed where the theft of the imperial jewels — from the French First and Second Empires — took place in October 2025).
Apollo Gallery – Room 705 – Denon Wing, Level 1
Apollo Gallery – Room 705 – Denon Wing, Level 1
Apollo Gallery – Room 705 – Denon Wing, Level 1
The rise of French classicism. The Colonnade is built between 1667 and 1670 under the aegis of the powerful Ministry Colbert, who perhaps secretly hoped that the works embellishing the Louvre palace would distract King Louis XIV from his still new passion for Versailles.
The Colonnade is considered one of the masterpieces of French classicism, even if it is, during its construction, built so close to pre-existing buildings that it has absolutely no perspective.
North stairs of the Colonnade – Sully Wing, Level 1
The Colonnade
South stairs of the Colonnade – Sully Wing, Level 1
The Colonnade
The Louvre palace can be admired through its own windows.
And the city is always under its surveillance.
The ceilings. Often majestic, the ceilings tell a lot about the palace which disappeared behind the museum.
Ceiling of the Rotunda of Apollo – The Sun. The Fall of Icarus by Merry-Joseph Blondel – Room 704, Denon Wing, Level 1
Ceiling of the Rotunda of Mars – Man formed by Prometheus and animated by Minerva by Jena-Simon Berthélemy – Room 408, Denon Wing, Level 0
During the Revolution, the royal family is kept under surveillance within the Tuileries palace. The Louvre and the Tuileries are miraculously spared from this troubled period.
The museum vocation of the Louvre then gradually takes precedence over the residential vocation, under the aegis of King Louis XVIII, King Louis-Philippe and King Charles X.
Ceiling by Jean Alaux – Poussin arriving from Rome and introduced to Louis XIII. Commissioned by the Ministry of the Household of the King on November 18, 1828 for the Charles X museum
Detail of the ceiling
King Charles X. A new museum is inaugurated by King Charles X on December 15, 1827 within the walls of the Louvre palace. Jean-François Champollion, who has just achieved the feat of deciphering hieroglyphics and who has been entrusted with the responsibility of creating the very first Egyptian museum at the Louvre museum, is the head of the Charles X museum.
The status of the Louvre oscillates between royal (or imperial) residence and museum. From the 1820s-1830s, the museum starts to invade the palace, thanks to the enrichment of the collections which leads to the opening of new rooms which seem like independent museums within the immense building.
A row of nine rooms houses the brand new Charles X museum. This part of the palace first housed the apartments of the Queens of France, then the Royal Academy of Architecture, and finally the antique collections.
One of the doors of the Charles X museum
The Charles X museum
The Charles X museum
The ceiling of the former King’s apartments, now Salon des Sept-Cheminées
Detail of the ceiling
Ceiling of Denon Hall – Room 76, First Level of the Denon Wing. The Denon Pavilion is part of the developments carried out at the Louvre during the reign of Napoleon III. Designed by architect Hector Lefuel, the hall is named after the first director of the museum under Napoleon the First, Vivant Denon. In the center of the composition, Napoleon spreads his arms in a gesture of presentation of the artists by whom he is surrounded
Napoléon III. Under Napoleon III reign, the Louvre palace serves the Second Empire. A significant part of the Richelieu wing is refurbished between 1858 and 1861 to welcome the new apartments of the prominent Ministry of State Achille Fould. The Ministry has private apartments where he resides with his family.
This bourgeois and private part is followed by the large official apartments, intended for receptions, masked balls and dinners.
Following the Second Empire, these apartments are allocated to the Ministry of Finance until 1989 and it is on this date that the Louvre palace becomes entirely a museum.
The introductory gallery serves the family living room and the Grand Salon
The family living room serves as a transition between the private and official apartments
The Grand Salon is the largest and most sumptuous room. Decorated by Louis-Alphonse Tranchant, it can be arranged as a theater and accommodate up to 265 people. It is remarkable for its impressive Baccarat crystal chandelier and its padded furniture, including the confidants, these strange two-seater armchairs, and the indiscreets, these equally strange three-seater armchairs
The adjacent theater room, where the performances were played, is separated from the Grand Salon by a real stage curtain
The small dining room houses a trompe l’oeil painting representing an arbor
The large dining room has a huge table that could accommodate more than 40 guests
The chandelier of the Minister staircase – Napoleon III Apartments – Richelieu Wing, Level 1
We cannot talk about the Louvre (palace and museum) without talking about the Antiques, these collections of Greek and Roman antiquities which gradually found refuge in the palace, foreshadowing the museum dimension that it would take on in the following centuries.
Louis XIV has part of his collection installed in the Caryatids Hall in 1692. In 1798, new antiques arrive following Napoleon’s Italian campaigns. The Antiques Gallery is then created in the former apartments of Anne of Austria, soon enlarged by the annexation of surrounding rooms which house the collection of Prince Camille Borghese, acquired by the Emperor in 1807. This collection notably includes the Venus by Milo.
La Pallas de Velletri – This colossal statue, more than three meters high, is discovered in 1797 among the ruins of a Roman villa in a vineyard in Colle Troncavie, near Velletri, territory then conquered by France. The Pallas de Velletri only joins the Louvre after long negotiations and in 1803, at the request of Napoleon Bonaparte, is installed in the room of the emperors then in the room of the muses to finally be placed in the room of the Pallas in 1815
Zeus
Today, Antiques rub shoulders with masterpieces of French and Italian sculpture.
Psyche revived by Love’s kiss – Antonio Canova – Psyche is on the verge of dying poisoned by the scent of the bottle that she was not supposed to open. Love saves her by giving her a kiss which resurrects her
Through 800 years, the royal palace has inexorably become a museum. It was probably under Louis XIV that the museum vocation began, the palace being abandoned for Versailles. Today, the museum is so large that you could lose yourself for an entire week admiring the art works it brings together.
November 21, 2025
