I always like to check out a museum or 2 to every city that I travel to just to get a sample of some of the art or culture scene of that city.  When a friend and I recently traveled to Paris, we had to visit the world famous Louvre Museum.  It is the world’s most visited museum and has been featured in many movies, so I was pretty excited to go.

About the Louvre

The Louvre was originally established and opened in August 1793 with only an exhibition of 537 paintings.  Over the years, there has been renovations, additions, and expansions, so the museum now has over 380,000 objects and displays 35,000 works of art in 8 departments spread across 650,000 square feet of space that is just for the permanent collection alone.

The 8 curatorial departments are: Egyptian Antiquities, Near Eastern Antiquities, Greek-Etruscan-Roman Antiquities, Islamic Art, Sculpture, Decorative Arts, Paintings, and finally Prints & Drawings.  In 2018, the Louvre had a record annual attendance of over 10.2 million visitors.  The museum is open everyday except Tuesdays and certain holidays.

Tickets must be booked in advance online choosing the date and arrival time of the visit.  The great thing about the Louvre is that guests with disabilities and the person accompanying them get free admission which would normally cost 17,00 €‎.  We booked Sunday June 12 at 2 PM, since we had the Eiffel Tower ticket for noon the same day.

Getting There

After the Eiffel Tower, we had lunch at Chez Cafe Ribe and rested at a nearby park before getting an Uber to the Louvre.  It has an address of Rue de Rivoli, 75001 and was only a 10 minute drive from our lunch spot.  We arrived a bit late at just over 3 PM and took pictures of the exterior of the museum and the courtyard before entering. 

There are 4 entrances to the museum but we took the main entrance at the Pyramid.  A staff member ushered us in so we got to skip the long lines.  Once inside the entrance area, there is a small circular elevator lift that takes us down one floor where the main lobby is and where all the main exhibits branch from.

We actually visited the Louvre twice cause we only had 2.5 hours on our 1st visit since they close at 6 PM and start getting people to leave at 5:30.  We managed to book a timeslot for 2 PM the next day and spent another 3 hours on our 2nd visit.  Since we were coming from our hotel that time, we just casually walked/rolled to the museum since it was only about a half hour.

Exhibits – Day 1

After going down the elevator lift, there is a counter where there are directory maps and information brochures in different languages.  Both our visits were later in the afternoon so we missed the English brochure both times.  We started with the Denon wing both visits because we wanted pictures with the most famous painting in the world, the Mona Lisa.  This area is also the busiest spot of the museum.  Other artworks are also in the same room including the Wedding at Cana painting which is the largest painting in the entire museum.

It is located in the museum’s biggest room that is temperature controlled and in a protective glass case to preserve the painting.  It is behind a velvet rope surrounded by security guards to keep an eye on this very expensive painting.  The are long lines to view the Mona Lisa, but we were lucky that security allows wheelchair guests to skip the line and go behind the velvet rope to take close up pictures of it.

 

After leaving that room, we continued on with the Denon wing, where we saw many more paintings and sculptures.  They include the Winged Victory of Samothrace, the Rebellious Slave and the Dying Slave.  At this point, we were moving at a faster pace so that we could visit as many as possible different exhibits and rooms.  There were side elevators that took us up or down half floors while the main elevators took us to one of the main 4 floors.

By 5.30 PM, there was already an announcement that guests have to start exiting the museum as the museum was about to close in 30 minutes.  We quickly tried to finish the room we were looking in since staff members were already urging us to leave.  This is when we decided to come back the next day to check out the rest of the museum.

Day 2

Our 2nd visit to the Louvre started again with taking pictures with the Mona Lisa so my friend could have solo pictures with this famous painting.  Again, we were allowed to skip all the lines and go behind the velvet rope behind the security guard.

We then visited the temporary exhibit: Pharaoh of the Two Lands which only ran from April to July 2022.  It was really great seeing all the Egyptian sculptures and artifacts as it brought back memories of my trip to Egypt in 2015.  This collection wasn’t too huge so it did not take us too long to see everything.

We continued on with the Greek, Etruscan, Roman Antiquities area along with the Sculptures area.  There were sculptures of all kinds ranging from ceramics to marble to wood and even metal.  Still with so much to see, we hurried a bit to see as much as possible.

My favorite area that we visited on our second visit was the Cour Marly and Cour Puget.  This grand area is a covered courtyard that is filled with trees, plants, and large marble sculptures that were meant for outside.  I liked how it was so warm and bright in this area and how grand everything was.  After this, the museum was almost about to close, so we end up leaving right after.

Final Thoughts

The Louvre Museum really did live up to its hype and I can see why this is the most visited museum in the world.  For being such an old museum, it is quite wheelchair accessible as there are elevators and lifts located throughout the whole museum.  It can get quite crowded especially the room with the Mona Lisa painting. 

We went twice for a total of 5.5 hours and could easily have been longer if we had more time.  With tickets being free for disabled guests and their companions, I would definitely go again next time I am in Paris.