Across Europe

London

Paris

Cathédrale Notre Dame
Hôtel de Ville

Centre Georges Pompidou

musée du Louvre

la Tour Eiffel

Catacombes et Carrières

Le Lapin Agile

Sacré-Coeur
Montparnasse

The middle of April, 2002, continued.

In the 1er (1st) arrondissement, in the heart of Paris, only a few minutes walk from our hotel, is la musée du Louvre.

The Louvre Museum is certainly one of the world's largest (over 300,000 items on permanent display, with more in the special galleries) and the most famous. I could spend a week here, with a guide, and still feel as though I hadn't done it justice. But such is the troubles of a tourist :-)

Here we are, on a cool morning, ready to immerse ourselves in art. (On this visit I won't be visiting the Musée d'Orsay, across the River Seine, but it's a very worthwhile stop too.) The Louvre we now see, a replacement for the keep near the Fortress of the Louvre, was built beginning 1546. About a decade later Catherine de Medici started another project, the Tuileries, on the west side of the Louvre.

The collection was first displayed in 1789, during the revolution, when the Revolutionary Committee decided to make public the King's arts collection.

The complex was greatly extended during the Second Empire, from 1853-7. The glass pyramid, the new entrance, was designed by I. M. Pei at the request of President François Mitterand.

Here's a picture I couldn't resist: Isaac breast-feeding in front of a painting of the baby Jesus doing the same.

The secret of travelling through museums with toddlers is to focus on the animals. You can't believe how many animals, mythical or real, can be found in paintings and sculptures. And it can be funny: from time to time Isaac assertively maintains that a particularly gruesome gargoyle is a cow or a pig.

While Isaac was taking a nap, I had a chance to see the portrait of Mona [or Monna] Lisa (1479-1528), also known as La Gioconda, the wife of Francesco del Giocondo; 1503-06. From a catalogue:

This figure of a woman, dressed in the Florentine fashion of her day and seated in a visionary, mountainous landscape, is a remarkable instance of Leonardo's sfumato technique of soft, heavily shaded modeling. The Mona Lisa's enigmatic expression, which seems both alluring and aloof, has given the portrait universal fame.

Evidently Leonardo so loved the portrait that he always carried it with him (until it was sold to François I, either by Leonardo or by Francesco Melzi, a pupil of his.

What do I think? Well, it's hard to describe a quick visit with such an iconic painting. Perhaps I'll just say that it was smaller than I expected, and not as well lighted as I thought it ought to be. I'd like to return someday, to spend a quiet half-hour to see what pops up.

When Isaac awoke we visited the Aphrodite of Melos, known also as the Venus de Milo. This Greek statue is a little over 2 meters in height, sculpted from Parian marble probably between 130-120 BC.

She was found in 1820 by a peasant named Yorgos in a cavern on the Aegean island of Melos. Rather than turn her over to Turkish authorities, he secreted her in a barn. When discovered, she was loaded onto a Turkish boat but was mysteriously transferred to a French frigate at sea. (The Turkish offical in charge was publically whipped.)

Adisors to Louis XVIII tried to supply replacement arms. French sculptors designed arms which held apples, garments, lamps, and arms that held nothing at all but pointed in various directions. The king decreed that she not be marred by the work of other artists, a decree which resulted in many other ancient sculptures being left as found.

We also saw some of the French crown jewels. Photography was prohibited, so you get this blurry picture. Sorry.

As we were getting ready to leave I looked out of a window. This is the Siene, looking back towards the Il de la Cite and our hotel.

Of course, what would a visit to Paris be without a stop at la Tour Eiffel, the Eiffel Tower?

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