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The Louvre
Go in knowing you will see maybe five percent of it and be tired by the end. It is the largest art museum in the world, a former royal palace running from ancient Egypt through European painting, with the Mona Lisa, the Venus de Milo, and the Winged Victory all under one roof. The glass pyramid marks the main door.
Photos: Benh LIEU SONG (CC BY 2.5), User:Gloumouth1 (CC BY-SA 3.0), Benh LIEU SONG (Flickr) (CC BY-SA 4.0), via Wikimedia Commons
Pick two departments, walk to them, and leave. Trying to do the whole place in a day is how people end up footsore and resentful in front of a wall of paintings they stopped looking at an hour ago.
Worth it for
- A first Paris visit when you want the Mona Lisa and the big palace galleries and have booked a timed slot
- Anyone who genuinely loves art and is happy to give it most of a day across the Denon, Sully, and Richelieu wings
You can skip if
- You have two hours and no appetite for the scrum around the headline works
- Smaller and calmer is more your speed, in which case the Orsay or the Orangerie will treat you better
Tickets & tours for The Louvre
Which ticket should you buy?
From fortress to museum
The Louvre began as a medieval fortress in the late 1100s, and you can still walk past the stone foundations of that castle in the basement. Over centuries it grew into a royal palace, expanded by king after king, until Louis XIV moved the court to Versailles and left the building to artists and academies. It opened as a public museum in 1793, during the Revolution, displaying works that had belonged to the crown.
The collection grew through royal holdings, confiscations, purchases, and the spoils of Napoleon's campaigns. Today it spans tens of thousands of objects on display across a huge complex of wings, organized into departments by region and period.
The famous works
The Mona Lisa, Leonardo da Vinci's small portrait behind glass, draws the densest crowds; expect a packed room and a managed line to get close. Two other headline pieces are sculptures: the Venus de Milo, the armless ancient Greek figure of Aphrodite, and the Winged Victory of Samothrace, a Hellenistic statue of the goddess Nike posed at the top of a staircase.
Those three are the works most people come for, but the museum is far larger than its highlights. The Egyptian antiquities, the French and Italian painting galleries, the Near Eastern collections, and the lavish Napoleon III apartments are all worth time if you have it. Trying to see everything in one visit is a mistake; pick a couple of departments and move at a reasonable pace.
The pyramid and the entrances
The glass pyramid in the central courtyard, designed by I.M. Pei and opened in 1989, covers the main entrance and the underground lobby that connects the three wings. It is the iconic image of the modern Louvre and the spot most visitors photograph.
The main pyramid entrance has the longest lines. The Carrousel du Louvre entrance, reached from the underground shopping arcade off Rue de Rivoli or from the Metro, is usually quieter and lets you skip the courtyard queue. There is also an entrance at the Porte des Lions on some days. Whichever you use, you still pass through security screening.
Planning a visit
Tickets are timed, so you book a slot and enter within a window. Buying online in advance is the practical choice because the museum caps numbers and busy days sell out. Even with a timed ticket you may wait at security, so arrive close to your slot rather than well before it.
The Louvre is closed on Tuesdays, which catches a lot of first-time visitors off guard. It stays open late one or two evenings a week, and those later hours are among the calmest times to walk the galleries. Large bags and luggage must go to the cloakroom, and the building is big enough that comfortable shoes make a real difference.
The Louvre: FAQs
Tuesdays. It is open the rest of the week, with late evening hours on one or two nights.
Yes. Entry runs on timed slots and the museum limits numbers, so booking online in advance is the safe way to guarantee a place.
The Carrousel du Louvre entrance off Rue de Rivoli, or from the Metro, is usually quieter than the main pyramid in the courtyard.
Yes, all three are on display, though the Mona Lisa room is crowded and uses a managed line. Plan a route so you are not crossing the whole museum repeatedly.
At least two to three hours for the highlights. The collection is enormous, so pick a few departments rather than trying to cover everything.
No dress code. Large bags and luggage are not allowed in the galleries and must be checked at the cloakroom, and everyone passes through security.
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