Discover the neighborhood of The Louvre and The Tuileries Garden
As the City of Light and a symbol of romance, Paris owes much of its global fame to the prestigious Louvre neighborhood. Every trip to Paris should include an obligatory visit to this area thanks to its rich cultural history.
The Place de la Concorde
This is one of Paris’ most famous squares due to its location at the bottom of the world’s most beautiful avenue, the Champs-Elysées, but also because it’s the largest square in the capital, spanning 8.64 hectares.
It is distinguished by the Luxor Obelisk (over 3000 years old), which was gifted in 1836 to thank the Frenchman Champollion who was the first man to successfully translate hieroglyphics. This monument, which is 23 meters tall and weighs 222 tons, sits on a 240-ton pedestal with a 3.5m pyramid at the top, made from bronze and sheets of gold.
Completed in 1772, the Place de la Concorde was first used as a site for executions during the French Revolution where King Louis XVI and Queen Marie-Antoinette were guillotined. It was between 1836 and 1846 that the architect Jacques-Ignace Hittorf fashioned the square into what it is today.
The Tuileries Garden
A true symbol of French charm and custom, the Tuileries Garden attracts Parisians and tourists alike every year with its paths and glorious fountains. It is situated between the Louvre palace and the Place de la Concorde and stretches across over 25 hectares.
It was Catherine de’Médici who was behind this extraordinary garden after the construction of the Tuileries Palace in the 16th Century. The garden has a very simple linear layout with six paths along and eight across, surrounded by rectangular flowerbeds where you’ll find a wide array of different plants.
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The Musée de l’Orangerie
This museum is located in the Tuileries Garden and is home to the works of impressionist and post-impressionist painters, including Claude Monet, Henri Matisse, Pablo Picasso and Henri Rousseau, to name just a few.
This building was originally used to shelter the Tuileries Garden’s orange trees in the winter, before they were moved to the Louvre palace in the early 20th Century.
The Galerie nationale du Jeu de Paume
The Jeu de Paume arts center is also situated in the Tuileries Garden, near the Place de la Concorde. Historically, this building had several real tennis courts before it became a museum of modern and contemporary art. Today it is dedicated to photography, art house cinema and new technologies.
The Musée du Louvre
One of the largest and most beautiful museums in the world, the Louvre stretches over 60,000m² and houses 460,000 works of art. It’s the best known and most popular museums in the world with no fewer than 8.5 million visitors each year.
The Louvre has a long history: formerly the residence of the French kings, it was rapidly transformed into a museum following the French Revolution. Just a few hundred works were displayed there before the museum began expanding its collection year by year.
Today you’ll find precious and unusual treasures there, including works from the Middle-Ages, the Egyptians, the Greeks and the Romans, graphic art and Islamic art. The Louvre has also succeeded in tastefully combining its history with modern architecture, as illustrated by the addition of its famous glass pyramid that sits in the central courtyard.
Now you should know that this neighborhood is packed with splendors that you simply cannot miss if you’re in Paris. So, without further delay, go and explore it and make the most of these Parisian charms.
