Louvre★★★
The Louvre is not only the most visited museum in the world (over 10 million visitors annually) but also the largest: 73,000 m² of exhibition space with over 380,000 objects, about 35,000 of which are permanently displayed. It would take an estimated 100 days to view each work for 30 seconds. The former royal palace, whose oldest parts date back to the 12th century, was declared a museum in 1793.
The three great stars are known to everyone: the Mona Lisa (Salle des États, behind bulletproof glass, always surrounded by a wall of people — by the way, the painting is smaller than expected: 77 × 53 cm), the Venus de Milo (Greek, around 130 BC, armless yet perfect), and the Winged Victory of Samothrace (winged goddess of victory on the staircase — one of the most dramatic museum presentations worldwide).
But the Louvre has so much more: the Egyptian Department (one of the most important outside Cairo), Vermeer's Lacemaker, Delacroix's Liberty Leading the People, the Crown Jewels in the Galerie d'Apollon, the monumental Wedding at Cana by Veronese (the largest painting in the Louvre, directly opposite the Mona Lisa — and far more impressive). The glass pyramid by I.M. Pei (1989) in the courtyard has become a work of art itself.
💡 Tipp
Come on Wednesday or Friday evenings (open until 9:45 PM) — the halls are half-empty then. Do not enter the museum through the Pyramid (longest queue), but through the "Passage Richelieu" entrance or via the "Palais Royal – Musée du Louvre" metro station (underground access). Plan for a maximum of 3 hours per visit and come twice if possible.
