Paris:
Louvre, square of the museum and pyramid
The museum of Louvre is the largest Parisian museum in size. An old king palate, it is one of the oldest museums in the world and the third in size.
It shelters several of the most famous tables in the world: Mona Lisa of Leonardo da Vinci, Freedom guiding the people, of Delacroix and the Oath of Horaces of Jacques Louis David.
With 8,3 million visitors in 2006, it is the museum of art most visited in the World. At the origin of the building of the Louvre there was a strong castle, the Gross tower of the Louvre, set up by king Philippe Auguste in 1190. It was destroyed by François Ist in 1528 and in 1546 the transformation of the fort starts into luxurious royal palate.
In 1594, Henri IV decides to link the palate of the Louvre to the palate of Tuileries builds by Catherine of Medici: it is the "Great Intention". The Square Court is built by Lemercier and Vau under Louis XIII and Louis XIV. The decoration of the palate is led by painters as Poussin, Romanelli .... But the work is stopped when Louis XIV chooses Versailles for royal residence in 1678. It is only in the XVIIIth century that the projects carried out in particular by Gabriel and Soufflot complete the "Great Intention".
