The Louvre

halmester's picture

Location

Paris
France
48° 51' 38.1996" N, 2° 20' 15.5184" E
FR
General info: 

By many criteria, The Louvre is the world’s number 1 museum. It is the biggest museum on the planet with almost 30,000 items exhibited over an area of 60,000 square meters. It is also the most visited museum. Only in 2013, over 9 million tourists had visited the museum.

Louvre´s historic collections will hurl you into the world of ancient Egypt, Greece, Rome, and other civilizations. Many of the items from the antique were brought to the museum by the Napoleon himself in the times when he ruled over almost the whole of Europe.

There hasn’t been a more talked-about, praised, and mocked work of art, in the whole 4000-years-long history of visual arts, than Leonardo da Vinci’s Mona Lisa. The painting is without doubt the most famous piece of art in the world. Painted in the early 16th century, this synonym of Renaissance art is housed at the Louvre for over two centuries now.

Writing a short review about the Louvre is almost a mission impossible as there are so many interesting facts about this place. Not just about the vast collection, but also about the building itself. It is best to see yourself and reserve time to visit Louvre. You won´t see everything anyway unless you spend a few weeks but one full day should give you time to cover the best parts. Be prepared for crowds and queues.

Getting there: 

The Louvre is located in the 1st district (arrondissement) of Paris, on the right bank of the river Seine. The address is Musée du Louvre, 75001 Paris, France, and you can get there by using metro at ‘Palais Royal – Musée du Louvre’ and ‘Louvre-Rivoli’ stations.

Costs: 

The biggest problem about admission to the Louvre is not the entrance fee but the crowd. To avoid waiting in line, you can buy the tickets online at the museum’s official webpage (http://goo.gl/v03jdR). The most affordable option is to get a Paris Museum Pass, which costs €42 for 2 days (actually, the cheapest way is to go to the Louvre on 1st Sunday every month, because then the entrance is free).

Interesting places nearby

Europe's largest high alpine meadow, Alpe di Siusi, separates two of the most famous Dolomite ski-resort valleys (Val di Fassa and Val Gardena).

Monte Cristallo (3,221 m) is the highest peak of the Cristallo mountain group in the Italian Dolomites. The mountain group is a long, indented ridge with four summits higher than 3,000 metres.

Lago di Carezza is an incredibly beautiful alpine lake just on the foot of the Dolomites mountains. The turquoise blue water is crystal clear and reflects the Dolomites towering behind the lake.

Calanque En-Vau is perhaps the most beautiful calanque in the French Riviera. This astonishing inlet is 400 meters deep and dominated by large limestone cliffs on both sides.

Primarilly a cross country skiers resort, for which it is world famous, with an incredible amount of terrain. Downhillers will find very limited slopes about 20 minutes out of town, the biggest at Arber.

At the German-speaking end of the rail-link included Gstaad ski pass and now lift linked to the ski areas above neighbouring Saanemöser, St. Stephan and Schönried.