Monday May 2, The Louvre, The Arc de Triomphe du Carrousel The Jardin des Tuileries, and The Grande Roue de Paris

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1 Monday May 2, 2016 The Louvre, The Arc de Triomphe du Carrousel The Jardin des Tuileries, and The Grande Roue de Paris

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4 The Louvre Museum The Louvre Museum is one of the largest and most important museums in the world. It is housed in the expansive Louvre Palace, situated in the 1st arrondissement, at the heart of Paris. Originally a royal palace, but now the world's most famous museum, housing some of the most famous works of art such as the Venus of Milo, the Nike of Samothrake, the Dying Slave by Michelangelo and of course Leonardo da Vinci's Mona Lisa. The collection of the Louvre Museum was first established in the sixteenth century as the private collection of King Francis I. One of the works of art he purchased was the now famous Mona Lisa painting. The collection grew steadily thanks to donations and purchases by the kings. In 1793, during the French Revolution, the Louvre became a national art museum and the private royal collection opened to the public. The museum has a collection of over one million works of art, of which about 35,000 are on display, spread out over three wings of the former palace. The museum has a diverse collection ranging from the Antiquity up to the mid-nineteenth century. After entering the museum through the Louvre Pyramid or via the Carrousel du Louvre, you have access to three large wings: Sully, Richelieu and Denon. Below a brief description of the highlights in each wing. Sully Wing The Sully wing is the oldest part of the Louvre. The second floor holds a collection of French paintings, drawings and prints. One of the highlights is the erotic Turkish Bath, painted in the late eighteenth century by Jean-Auguste-Dominique Ingres. The first and ground floors of the Sully wing display works from the enormous collection of antiquities. In the thirty rooms with Egyptian antiquities you find artifacts and sculptures from Ancient Egypt such as the famous Seated Scribe and a colossal statue of Pharaoh Ramesses II. On the ground floor is the statue of Aphrodite, better known as the 'Venus of Milo', one of the highlights of the Louvre's Greek collection.

5 For something completely different, you can go to the Lower Ground Floor of the Sully wing where you can see some remnants of the medieval castle of the Louvre. Richelieu Wing Paintings from the Middle Ages up to the nineteenth century from across Europe are on the second floor of the Richelieu wing, including many works from master painters such as Rubens and Rembrandt. Some of the most notable works are the Lacemaker from Jan Vermeer and the Virgin of Chancellor Rolin, a fifteenth-century work by the Flemish painter Jan van Eyck. The first floor of the Richelieu wing houses a collection of decorative arts, with objects such as clocks, furniture, china and tapestries. On the same floor are the sumptuously decorated Napoleon III Apartments. They give you an idea of what the Louvre interior looked like when it was still in use as a royal palace. The ground and lower ground floor are home to the Louvre's extensive collection of sculptures. They are arranged around two glass covered courtyards: Cour Puget and Cour Marly. The latter houses the Horses of Marly, large marble sculptures created in the eighteenth century by Guillaume Coustou. Nearby is the Tomb of Philippe Pot, supported by eight Pleurants ('weepers'). The ground floor also houses a collection of antiquities from the Near East. The main attraction here is the Code of Hammurabi, a large basalt stele from the eighteenth century BC, inscribed with the Babylonian law code. Denon Wing The Denon Wing is the most crowded of the three wings of the Louvre Museum; the Mona Lisa, a portrait of a woman by Leonardo da Vinci on the first floor is the biggest crowd puller. There are other masterpieces however, including the Wedding Feast at Cana from Veronese and the Consecration of Emperor Napoleon I by Jacques Louis

6 David. Another star attraction of the museum is the Winged Victory of Samothrace, a Greek marble statue displayed at a prominent spot in the atrium connecting the Denon wing with the Sully wing. The ground floor of the Denon wing houses the museum's large collection of Roman and Etruscan antiquities as well as a collection of sculptures from the Renaissance to the nineteenth century. Here you find Antonio Canova's marble statue of Psyche Revived by Cupid's Kiss. Even more famous is Michelangelo's Dying Slave. On the same floor are eight rooms with artifacts from Africa, Asia, Oceania and the Americas. Medieval sculptures from Europe are displayed on the lower ground floor of the Denon wing. History of the Louvre Palace The Louvre was created in several phases. Originally built as a twelfth-century fortress by King Philip II, it was significantly expanded in the fourteenth century during the reign of King Charles V. Its current palatial appearance goes back to the late fifteenth century, when the original fortress was demolished and the wing along the Seine river was built. The palace was extended during the sixteenth century by architect Pierre Lescot, who expanded the palace into a complex with two courtyards. A decade later Catharina de Medici added the Tuileries Palace to the west of the Louvre. Construction on the Louvre was halted for some time when king Louis XIV decided to move to the Versailles Palace. In the nineteenth century, during the Second Empire, the Louvre was expanded again with the addition of the Richelieu wing. The wings were extended even further westward during the Third Empire. The Louvre now had four symmetric wings surrounding a large courtyard. This would not last long, as the Communards burned the Tuileries Palace to the ground in 1871, opening up the west side of the palace. The most recent addition to the Louvre was the construction of the Louvre Pyramid, which functions as the museum's main entrance. The pyramid was built in 1989 by the renowned American architect I.M. Pei. The glass pyramid allows the sunlight to enter the underground floor.

7 The modern addition originally received mixed reviews, as it contrasts sharply with the classical design of the surrounding buildings, but today it is generally accepted as a clever solution which has given the museum a spacious central entrance without the need to touch the historic patrimony. The Arc de Triomphe du Carrousel The Arc de Triomphe du Carrousel is the smallest of the three arches on the Triumphal Way, the central axis between the Louvre and La Défense. The arch is crowned with a bronze chariot. The other two arches are the Grande Arche de la Défense and the Arc de Triomphe de l'étoile, the most famous of the three. Like the latter, the Arc du Carrousel was commissioned by Emperor Napoleon in 1806 to commemorate his Austrian victories and honor his grand army. The Arc du Carrousel was built from 1806 to 1808 at a site between the Louvre and the Palais de Tuileries. This palace was destroyed in 1871 allowing an unobstructed view west towards the Place de la Concorde. The design of the triumphal arch was based on the Arch of Constantine in Rome. The arch has three archways; the largest, central one is 6.5m or 21ft high. The whole structure is 19m (63 ft) high and 23m (75ft) wide. On top of the arch were four gilded bronze horses taken by Napoleon from St. Mark's Square in Venice. The statues were returned to Venice after Napoleon's downfall at Waterloo. In 1828 a bronze quadriga pulled by replica versions of the horses - created by François Joseph Bosio - was installed as a replacement. Originally a statue of Napoleon was supposed to be put in the chariot but he rejected the idea so the chariot stayed empty until the restoration of 1828 when an allegorical figure took the place of the emperor. It is flanked by statues symbolizing Victory and Peace.

8 The Jardin des Tuileries The Jardin des Tuileries is one of Paris's most visited gardens thanks to its central location between the Louvre and Place de la Concorde. As such the Tuileries are part of a grand central axis leading from the Louvre all the way to La Défense, the city's business district. In the early sixteenth century the area was a clay quarry for tiles (tuilerie in French, hence the name). After the death of her husband Henri II in 1559, Catherine de Médicis had a Palace built at the tuileries, the Palais de Tuileries. The palace featured a large garden in Italian style, reminding her of her native Tuscany. Between 1660 and 1664 the garden was Jardin des Tuileries redesigned in French formal style by André Le Nôtre, the celebrated gardener of the Sun King, best known for his design of the gardens at the Versailles Palace. Le Nôtre built a terrace along the riverbank and opened up a central axis which he extended three years later with the creation of the Champs-Elysées.

9 The Jardin des Tuileries was one of the first parks to open to the public and it quickly became a place to see and be seen. Even in the eighteenth century the park featured amenities such as cafes, kiosks, deck chairs and public toilets. The Palais des Tuileries, situated near the Arc du Carrousel, was razed in 1871 by the Communards, opening up the view from the Statues at the Jardin des Tuileries in Paris Louvre to the Arc de Triomphe. Most recently renovated in 1990, Le Nôtre's formal design of the Tuileries garden has been kept intact. At the same time the park was separated from car traffic. Many modern sculptures were added and in 1999 the Passerelle de Solférino (now the Passerelle Léopold-Sédar-Senghor), a footbridge across the Seine opened, linking the Tuileries with the Musée d'orsay. Like the Jardin du Luxembourg, Jardin des Tuileries is one of those parks where you can grab a chair for free and sit wherever you like. It also features several fountains, two large basins, numerous sculptures and two museums: the Galerie Nationale du Jeu de Paume and the Musée de l'orangerie, which displays Claude Monet's large water lily paintings. Those two buildings are the only remains of the original Palais de Tuileries.

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11 Jardin des Tuileries

12 The Grande Roue de Paris Ideally located along the Historical Axis, the temporary structure offers a great view of the Eiffel Tower and River Seine. The view from the top The top of the wheel reaches 65 metres and offers a stunning view over the Historical Axis: from the Champs-Élysées to the Arc de Triomphe and the towers of La Défense and from the Tuileries Garden to the Louvre. Most of Paris great monuments can be seen too: the Eiffel Tower, the Montparnasse Tower, Notre-Dame, Montmartre and Sacré-Cœur and much closer, the Madeleine Church and Palais Bourbon. Now that the Grande Roue or Big Wheel of Paris has returned from its extensive international tour, the 42 gondolas rise 200 metres (60ft) above the Tuileries Gardens where, instead of any permanent or semi-permanent traditional type of foundation, the whole structure instead sits on a ballast of 40,000 litres (8,800 imp gal; 11,000 US gal) of water. The well known Paris Ferris Wheel s previous location was as a millennium focal point on the Place de Concorde. The current version of the Grande Roue de Paris follows that built for the 1900 Paris Exposition. The earlier version was 100-metre (328 ft) high and its cars were sufficiently large as to be removed for use as family housing at the end of WW I. This original Grande Roue de Paris and the American Ferris Wheel were engineering feats that would not be equaled or surpassed for 90 years. In between its residence at both Paris locations, the Grande Roue went on tour, being briefly re-named as the Wheel Birmingham and then the Wheel of Manchester during residence in each city in In

13 2005 the Grande Roue was a feature in the Netherlands and then took up a sparkling but brief residence in Gateshead, England, to celebrate the Tall Ships Race. Further afield in the Wheel was in Bangkok and then returned to Europe with a short stay in Antwerp and it seems also in Antibes. All this can be accomplished relatively easily as the modern Grande Roue was designed by the specialist maker of giant ferris wheels for easy and rapid dismantling and remounting. It comes down in 60 hours and can be erected in 72 but does require a specialist team to do so. In residence in the Tuileries Gardens in 2012, the Grand Roue seemed like a sort of modern sculpture complementing architecture of the Louvre Palace and the more traditional sculpture throughout the gardens themselves.