Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
Buying Tickets:
Self-serve ticket machines located under the pyramid are faster to use
than the ticket windows (machines accept euro bills, coins, and chip-and-PIN Visa cards).
The
tabac
in the underground mall (near the Carrousel du Louvre entrance) sells tickets to
the Louvre, Orsay, and Versailles, plus Museum Passes, for no extra charge (cash only).
Tours:
Ninety-minute English-language
guided tours
leave twice daily (except the first
Sunday of the month) from the
Accueil des Groupes
area, under the pyramid between the
Sully and Denon wings (normally at 11:00 and 14:00, sometimes more often in summer;
€9 plus your entry ticket, tour tel. 01 40 20 52 63).
Videoguides
on Nintendo 3DS portable
game consoles provide tech-savvy visitors with commentary onabout 700masterpieces (€5,
available at entries to the three wings, at the top of the escalators). A free Louvre
smart-
phone app
is available at iTunes, where you can also download my free self-guided Louvre
audio tour
(see
here
). You'll also find English explanations throughout the museum.
BaggageCheck:
Thefree
bagagerie
isunderthepyramid,totherightoftheDenonwing
entrance (it is signed
visiteurs individuels
). Large bags must be checked, and you can also
check small bags to lighten your load. The baggage-claim clerk might ask you in French,
“Does your bag contain anything of value?” You can't check cameras, money, passports, or
other valuables.
Services:
WCs are located under the pyramid, behind the escalators to the Denon and
Richelieu wings. Once you're in the galleries, WCs are scarce.
Self-GuidedTour:
StartintheDenonWingandvisitthehighlights,inthefollowing
order (thanks to Gene Openshaw for his help writing this tour).
Look for the famous
Venus de Milo
(Aphrodite)
statue. You'll find her not far from an-
other famous statue, the
Winged Victory of Samothrace.
This goddess of love (c. 100
B.C.
,
from the Greek island of Melos) created a sensation when she was discovered in 1820. Most
“Greek”statuesareactuallylaterRomancopies,but
Venus
isarareGreekoriginal.She,like
Golden Age Greeks, epitomizes stability, beauty, and balance.
After viewing
Venus,
wander through the
ancient Greek and Roman works
to room 6
to see the Parthenon frieze (stone fragments that once decorated the exterior of the greatest
Athenian temple), mosaics from the ancient city of Antioch, Etruscan sarcophagi, and Ro-
man portrait busts.
Later Greek art was Hellenistic, adding motion and drama. For a good example, see
the exciting
Winged Victory of Samothrace
(
Victoire de Samothrace,
on the landing). This
statue of a woman with wings, poised on the prow of a ship, once stood on a hilltop to com-
memorate a naval victory. This is the
Venus de Milo
gone Hellenistic.
The
Italian collection
—including the
Mona Lisa
—is scattered throughout the rooms of
the long Grand Gallery, to the right (as you face her) of
Winged Victory
(look for
two Bot-
ticelli frescoes
as you enter). In painting, the Renaissance meant realism, and for the Itali-
ans,realismwasspelled“3-D.”Painterswereinspiredbytherealismandbalancedbeautyof
