Louvre Museum. Louvre map. Floor plan
The Louvre is the world's largest museum. Located in central Paris on the Seine River banks, it has 403 rooms, exhibiting first class artworks spanning 5000 years. Mona Lisa is the museum's most famous painting. The Louvre was the palace of the Kings of France until Versailles took over in 1682. The Louvre access map, interactive map, map pdf and floorplan facilitate the museum visit. Louvre ticket price is 22 euros. Top Paris museums.
Louvre Museum artworks
The Louvre Museum is the world's most visited museum with 8.7 million visitors in 2024. It is also a beautiful French royal palace.
35,000 objects from prehistory to the 21st century are exhibited over an area of 60,600 square metres (652,300 square feet). The Louvre Museum displays the Mona Lisa by Leonardo Da Vinci, probably the most famous painting in the world, and many Italian renaissance paintings.
French paintings are well represented up to and excluding the impressionists exposed at Musée d'Orsay. Delacroix is best known for the Liberty leading the people. Flemish paintings by Rubens, Brueghel and Van Dick were mostly bought by the Kings and Queens. Dutch paintings by 17th century painters Rembrandt, Vermeer and De Hooch are well represented in the Louvre Museum.
The Louvre Museum displays world class collections of Egyptian, Greek, Roman and Islamic Arts. The French Crown Jewels are worth the trip.
Louvre Museum at night is beautiful
Louvre Museum most famous masterpieces
Mona Lisa, the Venus de Milo, the Winged Victory of Samothrace, the Liberty Leading the People and the Coronation of Napoléon are among the Louvre most famous masterpieces.
Mona Lisa (La Joconde) – Leonardo da Vinci
Location: Denon Wing, Level 1, Room 711
The museum’s crown jewel, arguably the world's most famous painting, is celebrated for her mysterious smile and unmatched artistic technique.
It was created by Leonardo da Vinci during the Italian Renaissance. Painted between 1503–1519, it is widely believed to portray Lisa Gherardini, wife of Florentine merchant Francesco del Giocondo.
The sitter’s expression seems to change depending on the angle and light—sometimes smiling, sometimes serious. Her direct, calm gaze was unusual for portraits of the time, creating intimacy. Leonardo’s technique of blending tones without harsh outlines, called sfumato, gives the skin and features a soft, lifelike quality.
A dreamlike, atmospheric landscape contrasts with her calm presence, suggesting harmony between humanity and nature.
Mona Lisa is in the Louvre Museum
Venus de Milo
Location: Sully Wing, Ground Floor, Room 346A striking Ancient Greek statue from around 100 BC, believed to depict Aphrodite, the goddess of love. She is notable for her graceful beauty.
The Venus de Milo is one of the most celebrated sculptures from ancient Greece, and a centerpiece of the Louvre Museum. It is in marble.
Found in 1820 on the island of Melos (Milos) in the Aegean Sea by a farmer, it was quickly recognized as a masterpiece and gifted to France.
The statue depicts a half-draped female figure, with the upper body nude and the lower body covered in drapery. Her arms are missing, which adds mystery and fascination.
Venus de Milo is in Louvre Museum
Winged Victory of Samothrace
Location: Denon Wing, Daru Staircase
The Winged Victory of Samothrace is one of the most celebrated masterpieces of ancient Greek sculpture and a highlight of the Louvre.
Dating from around 190 BC, it is made of marble. Found in 1863 by French archaeologist Charles Champoiseau on the island of Samothrace in the northern Aegean Sea, the fragments were shipped to Paris, where they were reassembled and displayed at the Louvre.
The statue represents Nike, the Greek goddess of Victory, descending onto the prow of a warship. Her body leans forward with wind-swept drapery, creating a powerful sense of motion and energy.
The Victory of Samothrace is in Louvre Museum
Liberty Leading the People – Eugène Delacroix
Location: Denon Wing, Level 1, Room 700
The painting symbolizes revolutionary spirit, with Liberty leading citizens over barricades during the 1830 uprising in Paris. At the center, a woman personifying Liberty strides forward, leading Parisians across barricades. She holds the tricolor flag of France (blue, white, red) in one hand and a musket with a bayonet in the other. Liberty is both allegorical and real: she resembles a goddess (bare-breasted, timeless) but also a working-class woman of Paris.
The Coronation of Napoléon – Jacques-Louis David
Location: Denon Wing, Level 1, Room 702
The Coronation of Napoléon was completed in 1807. The painting commemorates the coronation ceremony of Napoléon I, held on December 2, 1804, at Notre-Dame Cathedral in Paris. Napoléon had crowned himself Emperor of the French, breaking tradition where the Pope would crown monarchs.
Louvre Museum map with metro stations and entrances
The nearest metro stations to Louvre Museum are Palais Royal and Louvre Rivoli on line 1. The entrances to the Louvre Museum are 99, rue de Rivoli, Passage Richelieu and the Pyramid, the main and most crowded entrance.
Louvre interactive map
The Louvre interactive map is a detailed map to visit the Museum online. It lists and shows all paintings in each room of the museum. A pdf description of each painting is available. The interactive map provides a list of all paintings by a specific painter displayed in the museum.
The Louvre Museum is located in central Paris along the Seine River Banks in the 1st arrondissement. Locate Louvre Museum on Paris map
The Louvre is so big you need a map to visit it
Louvre Museum map pdf
Download and print the official Louvre map pdf. It details the collections displayed on 5 levels, in 3 interconnecting wings named after three prominent figures from French history: Richelieu (1585–1642), chief minister of King Louis XIII, Sully (1559–1641), chief minister of King Henri IV, and Denon (1747–1825), first director of Louvre Museum.
Louvre Museum floor plan
Download Louvre museum floorplan. Mona Lisa is located in room 711, as shown on museum level 1 floorplan below.
Louvre Museum visit
The museum has superb online tours of the collections.
A real visit is of course even better. As the Louvre is extremely large, a guided tour is very practical to get quickly to the top masterpieces with a passionate art guide. Priority access will allow you to get inside easily. Among the paintings, you will admire the Mona Lisa by Leonardo da Vinci and Napoleon's Rite by David, see magnificent sculptures such as the Venus de Milo or the Victory of Samothrace.
Louvre Museum guided tour information and booking.
From the main entrance through the pyramid, access the Carrousel du Louvre Shopping Mall with a few interesting shops.
Les Tuileries Gardens, one of the most beautiful parks in the city, connect the Louvre with Place de la Concorde and the Champs-Elysées Avenue.
The crouching scribe is in Louvre Museum
Louvre Museum hours
The Louvre is open 9am to 6pm on Monday, Thursday, Saturday and Sunday. It is open from 9am to 9pm on Wednesday and Friday.
The museum is closed on Tuesday, January 1, May 1, November 11, December 25. Rooms begin closing 30 minutes before closing time.
Louvre Museum tickets
Louvre Museum ticket price is 22 euros.
Everyone can visit for free on the first Friday of each month after 6pm (except July and August) and on July 14. Reservation is required.
The lacemaker by Vermeer is in Louvre Museum
Louvre Museum address
Paris metro: station Palais Royal on line 1
The famous glass pyramid (Paris map) designed by architect I.M. Pei is the main entrance to the Louvre Museum.
To avoid the long pyramid queue, enter through Carrousel du Louvre entrance (Paris map), 99 rue de Rivoli.
Eros and Psyche by Canova is in Louvre Museum
Stay in top Paris hotel with indoor pool
Hotel near Louvre Museum
Located 300 m from the Louvre Museum and 500 m from Les Halles Shopping Mall, L'Empire offers air-conditioned rooms with satellite TV and free WiFi. The wellness area offers a hammam, sauna and treatment rooms. The Cafe serves a buffet breakfast and a variety of French cuisine for lunch and dinner. Best hotels near Louvre Museum.
Paris 75001 France
Hotel Empire is located near Louvre Museum
History of the Louvre
In the late 12th century, King Philippe Auguste decided to build the Louvre fortress at a weak point along the river banks of the city walls protecting Paris. A dense urban district gradually grew up around it, taking away its defensive interest. King Charles V endorsed the development of the Louvre from fortress to residence. He commissioned his architect Raymond du Temple with converting the fortress into an up-to-date dwelling (1360-1380). The medieval Louvre was largely lost during the modernization of the palace during the Renaissance, and it was gradually razed to the ground between 1528 and 1660. After Sun King chose Versailles as his residence in 1682, constructions slowed.
The Louvre Palace houses the Louvre Museum since 1793. President François Mitterrand decided in 1981 the final extension of the museum, including the construction of the glass pyramid marking the entrance.
See the Louvre in 1500 (Saint-Germain-des-Près Abbey and Seine River in foreground, Montmartre hill in background).
The Louvre of Charles V - 15th century
The Louvre Lens
Seeing the richness of its collections which it is unable to display fully, the Louvre institution in Paris recently decided to open museums in other cities and countries.
In 2012, to revitalize a former coal mine area in northern France, the Louvre opened the Louvre Lens, an interesting and easy museum on your way from the UK or the Benelux to Paris. Louvre Lens is the second museum opened by the Louvre and one of the top museums of arts in France. Locate Lens on France map.
Permanent collections
The Louvre Abu Dhabi
A flagship project in the Persian Gulf, Louvre Abu Dhabi, was designed by Pritzker Prize-winning architect Jean Nouvel and opened on November 11th 2017. The architecture is based on the dome, a major sign of Arab architecture. But here the dome is modernized. Double dome 180 meters in diameter, flat, perfect radiant geometry, perforated in a more random woven material, creating a shadow punctuated with shards of sun. The dome casts a dramatic interplay of light and shadow, reflecting the sunlit climate of Abu Dhabi. At night, the protected landscape is an oasis of light under a dome with stars.
Dedicated to exhibiting artwork exploring inter-cultural exchanges and human history from a non-Western perspective, the Louvre Abu Dhabi features a permanent collection. It hosts four exhibitions annually.
Abu Dhabi United Arab Emirates
The Louvre Museum in Abu Dhabi
Ecole du Louvre
The Ecole du Louvre is a higher education establishment providing courses in French in archeology, epigraphy, art history, the history of civilizations and museology. The school is located in Pavillon de Flore within the Louvre.
Founded in 1882, it offers 3 cycles of studies (3 years of undergraduate studies, 2 years of graduate studies and 3 years of post-graduate studies) and a preparatory class for the Conservateur du Patrimoine exam.
In parallel to these programs, the school allows auditors to attend certain courses. It offers other courses open to a broad public: evening courses, summer courses, courses taught in the regions, the city of Paris courses. All courses are in French. All courses are available as ongoing training.
Paris 75038 France
Ecole du Louvre is in Pavillon de Flore