Visit the Gardens at the Louvre!

The Louvre Museum is not only the world's most visited museum, but is also an iconic piece of France's history. This museum and the art within is a perfect representation of French nationalism, culture, and symbolism of merging boarders and territories.

Because I have never taken much interest in art, I wanted to be knowledgeable about the museum and the artifacts within it before we arrived. What is now known as the Louvre Museum was built in the 12th century under

Philip II as his royal fortress. But when King Louis XIV came into power, he resided in Versailles and turned the Louvre into a storage spot for all of his art and other valuables. Then, during the French Revolution, the National Assembly decided that the Louvre should be used as a museum to display the nation's masterpieces.

Upon reading this brief history, I realized that the Louvre was more than just a museum, home to over 35,000 pieces of art, it was a symbol of French nationalism. This monument came to be a museum for the French to

show all of their great works of art accumulated within the nation. The residents were proud of their possessions and artists, and wanted everyone to know it.

When I entered the courtyard of the Louvre Museum the first thing that caught my eye was the giant glass pyramid, it serves as the main entrance (which actually took us a minute to figure out). Because I had no idea about the presence of this pyramid, I researched the construction of it when I returned to Luxembourg. As it turns out, there is no history behind this architecture, it simply attracted more visitors (in fact, double since its completion).

I realized before I entered the museum that the history and the architecture alone was interesting enough to satisfy my curiosity, even if I did not find the art interesting. But the result was the exact opposite. Upon entering the

museum I found each exhibit, corridor, and era of art to be more interesting than the last.

The Louvre is home to over 50,000 Egyptian pieces of art. The scrolls, mummies, jewelry, tools, and paintings were originally part of the royal collection, but was augmented by Napoleon soon after. This was my favorite exhibit because of the reality the art brought to the Egyptian culture. Without seeing this portion of the museum, I don't think my experience would have been nearly as enriching. In addition to Egyptian artifacts, there are also exhibits pertaining to the Near Eastern, Greek, Roman, and Islam cultures including sculptures, decorative art, and paintings (it is also home to the Mona Lisa). It would be impossible to spend an extensive amount of time in each exhibit, so my group found ourselves divided within the museum in order to spend time on the works that interested us the most, this seemed to be the best strategy to get the most out of the experience.

After two and half hours of navigating through different works of art of several centuries, my group of friends and I found ourselves strolling through the Louvre Gardens and Tulleries. This was by far the best part of the entire Louvre experience. The gardens date back to the Neolithic period and were later redesigned to please King Lou

is XIV. After King Louis, Napoleon added his own flair by having statues transferred to the gardens from Versailles. Unfortunately though, the Paris Commune riots destroyed the gardens and the statues. Over the last few decades, the gardens have been completely restored and now

offer a relaxing place for visitors to walk, eat, and relax. It is definitely worth anyone's time to sit by a pool to sun bathe and have a picnic.

Through this experience of architecture, art, and culture, I learned the symbolism behind the Louvre and the history it represents. This museum is not just a storehouse for historical pieces, but represents the togetherness of multiple cultures and the meaning their history has to the French. Without the works of art from Greek, Islam, and Eastern cultures, the Louvre would not be nearly as meaningful, nor without the architecture of the glass pyramid, or the history of King Louis XIV and Napoleon. Because of the combination of these cultures and combinations of territories, the French have a world renowned icon to be proud of, a symbol of their nationalism.

For more information on the Louvre, please visit: www.louvre.fr