Amy Crowell, age 16, of Harrisburg, Pa., for her question:
WHO BUILT THE LOUVRE?
Louvre is the name of the national art museum of France anti the palace in which it is housed. It is located in Paris on the right bank of the Seine River. King Philip II built the first Louvre as a Gothic fort about 1200.
In the 1300s the fort became the royal residence. Then in 1546, King Francis I, who had been a prisoner of war in Italy, decided to build a palace more splendid than the great palaces of Italy. Pierre Lescot designed the building in a classical Renaissance manner.
The structure, until 1682 a residence of the kings of France, is one of the largest palaces in the world. The museum of art is one of the world's finest.
Additions to the building were made during the reigns of almost every French monarch. Under Henry IV, in the early 17th century, the Grande Galerie, now the main picture gallery which borders the Seine, was completed. Under Napoleon a wing on the west side (along the Rue de Rivoli) was finished.
Some government offices and the Musee des Arts Decoratifs (not part of the Louvre) now occupy the wing that was completed by Napoleon.
By the mid 19th century the vast complex was completed. It covers more than 48 acres. It is a masterpiece of architectural design and sculptural adornment.
The Louvre has more than 275,000 works of art, including more than 5,000 paintings. Covering almost every period of art, these works may be seen in the museum's 140 exhibition rooms and eight miles of galleries.
The world famous Mona Lisa, painter by the Italian artist Leonardo Da Vinci, hangs in the Louvre's Grand Gallery. This gallery is 900 feet long.
Famous masterpieces that are displayed on the museum's first floor include the sculptures Venus de Milo and and Winged Victory of Samothrace.
The collections of the museum (properly, the Musee du Louvre) are at present administered by several curatorial departments. The Department of Egyptian Antiquities, one of the greatest in the world, was formed in 1826 to study and display the objects brought back to France during Napoleon's campaign in Egypt.
The Department of Oriental Antiquities is famed for its collections of Mesopotamian art. Other divisions include Greek and Roman antiquities; Islamic art; medieval, Renaissance and modern sculpture; furniture and objects d'art including the crown jewels of France; and drawings
The Department of Paintings is considered by many scholars to be the most important collection in the world. The paintings range from the Middle Ages to impressionism.
Protection of all the Louvre's priceless masterpieces during the two world wars was accomplished by their removal to secret depositories outside Paris.