Paris, Louvre

Q19675

It is hard to write a review of the Louvre in Paris, because it is one of the world’s largest museums. There are many departments, and each one of them might, in its field, have been a museum of the first order. For example, it is hard to find another Egyptological museum in Europe that equals the Louvre.

The museum also has a reputation for interesting expositions – one on Meroe and one on the archaeology of Saudi Arabia during my latest visit – and to be honest: one ought to visit the Louvre twice a year to keep in touch. The people of Paris are unusually blessed.

If you visit the museum for the first time, you will be surprised by the pyramid-shaped entrance. Use the time you lose to pass the bomb check and buy a ticket to look at it, because it is a monument of the first order.

I already mentioned the Egyptian department, where you can easily spend a full day. There are portraits of the Egyptian kings and objects from daily life, and what is even better: the full history is dealth with, so you will also find objects from the first millennium BCE. The Greek, Roman, and Coptic age are not ignored either, although you need to go to Greek department for the royal portraits of the Ptolemies.

The Egyptian department is deservedly famous, and attracts many visitors, who are usually exhausted when they are half-way their tour. Usually, they will take the shortest route to the exit, which brings them through the departments of Cypriote, Arab, Palmyrene, and Phoenician art – which are, as a consequence, full of people who are not interested in the objects. That is a pity, because these rooms alone justify a trip to Paris. Still, if you manage to ignore the crowd of tired visitors to the Egyptian department, you will certainly enjoy coffins from Sidon, Byblos, and Carthage, Nabataean inscriptions, and statues from Cyprus. One of my favorites is a relief of one of the divine triad of Palmyra. You will need half a day to study it well.

Next to it is the Oriental department. The most famous object is, of course, the Code of Hammurabi. Don’t concentrate on the diorite monolith only, but also look in the small display in the same room, because there you will see cuneiform tablets with the same text – one of them written more than a millennium later and proving that these laws had become some kind of Mesopotamian classic, and it is probably no coincidence that the division of these Old Babylonian laws returns in the Ten Commandments.

The Code of Hammurabi was found in Susa, which is a prominent part of the oriental collection. You will also see a wall decorated with Achaemenid soldiers and cuneiform tablets from this Iranian town. Other important excavations are Mari and Khorsabad, but there is a lot more to see. There are also rooms devoted to Jordan and western Syria; they are not adjacent to the eastern Syria and the other Levantine rooms, which is a bit impractical – but the Mesha stela is worth the detour. You need a full day to study the entire oriental department.

The Roman department is surprisingly small. Yet, there is a lot of fine sculpture, including a nice series of portraits of Roman rulers. Next to it is a comparatively small Etruscan department. A gallery of rather mediocre statues brings you to the room devoted to Roman art that was later restored, which is great fun: usually, you can immediately see which part is ancient and which is an addition. (Here, you will also find Canova’s famous Amor and Psyche.) You need about half a day to see it all, read the explanatory signs, and take your photos.

The Greek department is larger – you again need a full day to study it all. The two most famous pieces are the expressive Nike of Samothrake and the famous Venus of Milo. The latter is more or less the museum’s raison d’être. Napoleon had looted the Italian museums, but after he had found his Waterloo, all those works of art had to be returned. In an age in which it was believed that inspiration by great art created great minds, and that Greek art was the most inspirational, the emptying of the Louvre was believed to be a national disaster, but fortunately, the Venus of Milo was found. Now, France could compete again with the British, who had the Elgin Marbles. That the armless deity was a Hellenistic and not a Classical statue, was ignored – the inscription which proves it, is now conveniently lost.

The Greek department also has some fine temple remains (from a/o Assos), the Tanagra statuettes that I increasingly love, and lots of pottery. Unfortunately, the rooms with Greek ceramics have recently been closed. I haven’t seen the Croesus to the left for quite some time: last time, the room was closed to install better protection; before that, it was on loan to another museum.

The crowds are very large, and you may count yourself lucky that I did not bring you to the paintings. This makes a visit to the Louvre a bit difficult, and you must prepare yourself well; fortunately, the museum’s website is excellent. Four days is the minimum for the ancient departments.

Finally, I must mention one little gem that is often ignored and where you can, consequently, quietly look at the objects: the room with metal objects. There is some fine silver work, but you will also see the helmet of a gladiator, a nice statuette of the Tyche of Antioch, the head of Demetrius Poliorcetes, a hoplite’s panoply, a curse tablet from the Crimea, Roman military diplomas, and so on.

But unfortunately, that’s the only part of the museum where you will not meet many other people. In fact, the museum is too big, and I think that it would be wiser to split it into smaller museums.

This museum was visited in 1984, 1989, 2008, 2010, 2020.

301 pictures related to this museum

Relief of a Roman officer	Marib, Dedication to Almaqah, detail	Fayyum, Coptic chalice	Amasis
Bawit, Icon of Christ and St.Menas	Ptolemy I Soter	Valerian Jr	Susa, Temple of the Šutrukids, Inscription
Ramesses IV	Tayma, Dedication to Salm	Ur, Foundation statuette of Amar-Sin	Susa, The Awan King List
Utica, Funeral stela	Ptolemy III Euergetes	Khorsabad, Relief of rafts on a great river	Byblos, Temple of Baalat, Figurines
Susa, Dedication to Inšušinak	Julia Mamaea	Sippar, Victory stela of Naram-Sin	Artemis and Apollo killing the Niobids
Kition, Egyptianizing capital	Informal portrait of Sobekhotep IV	Delos, Portrait of Alexander the Great	Osorkon I
The Albani Alexander	Tayma, Nabataean votive stela	Khorsabad, Iron tool	Susa, Rim of a cup with the name of Xerxes
Susa, Hellenistic or Parthian figurine of a harpist	Susa, Soldiers' Relief	Alexandria Troas, Psyche on a dromedary	Nectanebo I, wearing the crown of Upper Egypt
Apollonia, Relief to commemorate the battle of Actium	Yemen, Relief of a bird eating grapes	Crassus	Hermopolis, Portrait of a Cleopatra I, Cleopatra II, or Berenice III
Susa, Stela of Šutruru	Taharqo venerating the falcon-god Hemen	The Azara herm	Babylonian map of the western Zagros. A road, a mountain, and a river are indicated.
Smyrna, Diadumenianus	Senusret III	Montuhotep II wearing the red deshret crown	Idalion, orientalizing gold dish
Oea, Punic sphinx	Susa, Middle-Elamite model of a sun ritual	Didia Clara	Susa, Achaemenid administrative document
Egypt, Byzantine textile, Erotes picking grapes	Agrippa Postumus	Ladjvard, Sasanian king, perhaps Peroz	Ptolemy XI Alexander, gold sealing ring
An Egyptian poem about the battle of Kadesh	Ugarit, Alphabet tablet	Apries	Antinoopolis, Coptic textile, Praying man with candelaber and ankh
Susa, Apadana, Inscription DSf (Elamite)	Aššur, Annals of Tikulti-Ninurta II	Khorsabad, Relief of two courtiers	Rome, S. Pietro, Sarcophagus with Christ as Lawgiver
Susa, Soldiers' Relief	Giza, Diner of Nefer	Idalion, statue of Melqart	Coptic tunic
Caere, Banditaccia necropolis, Wall painting of an archer	Domitian	Choga Zanbil, Model	Olympia, Temple of Zeus, Model
Eretria, Two-headed phial	Susa, Temple of the Šutrukids, Relief	Geta	Susa, Funerary portrait
Antinoopolis, Coptic textile, Nilotic scene (including nilometer)	Khorsabad, Relief of Sargon and Sennacherib	Lascuta, Imperator inscription	Cleopatra II or III as Isis
Hadrumetum, Sanctuary of Baal Hammon, Punic stela with three baetyls	Nimrud, Northwest Palace of Aššurnasirpal II, Foundation Inscription	Susa, Temple of the Šutrukids, Relief	Sardes, Temple of Artemis, Relief of the "Mistress of the animals". (The archer partly visible to the right must be Heracles.)
Cleopatra VII Philopator in Egyptian style	Khorsabad, Lion-taming spirit ("Gilgameš")	Byblos, Relief of a lion	Alexandria, Alexander the Great as City Founder
Nefertiti and Akhenaten	Achaemenid jar with representation of Bes	Fausta	Susa, Silver rhyton
Beirut, Christian phylacterium, invoking the protection of several celestial beings to protect one Alexandra	Susa, Soldiers' Relief, Sphinxes	Gladiator helmet	Vase painting of an archaic Greek galley
Coptic jar with decoration of a woman with wild animals	Thyatira, Relief of a gladiator (thraex)	Lagash, Vulture Stele, Sumerian phalanx	Susa, Gold plate with royal warrior
Alexander I Balas	Cyprus, Bilingual Greek-Phoenician inscription	Chalouf, Darius' DZb inscription	Statuette of Bes, dedicated by Pakher, chancellor of king Psamtek I
Choga Zanbil, Ziggurat, Doorknobs (Paris)	Head of Croesus on a Greek vase	Saqqara, Serapeum, Relief of Isis and Nectanebo II	Demetrius I Poliorcetes
Utica, Oil lamp with a lion and a panther	Susa, Soldiers' Relief	Sphinx of king Siamun	Susa, Treaty between Naram-Sin and Elam
Tayma, Aramaic funerary inscription	Gortyn, Inscription with laws	Girsu, Tablet with a fragment of the Sumerian Creation Epic	Ugarit, Stele of the "smiting god"
Saba, the Arab warrior Mushayqat Hamayat ibn Yusuf on a dromedary	Susa, Statue of queen Napirasu, wife of Untaš-Napiriša	Susa, Inscription of Nicocles	Ptolemy II Philadelphus
Persian nobleman; statue from Egypt	Statuette of Raherka, inspector of the scribes, and his wife Merseanch	Susa, Soldiers' Relief	Bishapur, Palace, Mosaic of a musician
Tombstone of Iglum, son of Sa'adillat	Rhodes, Head-shaped aryballos	Socrates	Nectanebo I wearing the war crown
Byblos, Temple of Baalat, Figurine of a bull	Rhagae, Dancers on a piece of pottery	Rhodes, Dish with a sphinx	Charlemagne
Thelsae, Nabataean altar	Portrait of a Roman man (CE 070-100)	Athens, Black-figured dish with a Scythian archer	Theodosius II
Hadrumetum, Sanctuary of Baal Hammon, Punic stela	Bowl from Tepe Hesar I	Messalina	Uruk, Cuneiform tablet with first use of a zero
Kition, Figurine of a woman	Esarhaddon and his mother attend the restoration of Babylon	Soknopaiou Nesos, Stele of Isis, Horus, and Cleopatra VII Philopator	Arsinoe III
Statues of Sekhmet	Ajax and Cassandra.	Susa, Sasanian cup	Pyla, Temple of Apollo, Portrait of a man
Susa, Stone fish	Sarcophagus with the body of Hector	The Azara herm	Alexander IV
Nicomedia, Hellenistic Funerary relief	Susa, Letter from Artabanus II, requesting the appointment of one Hecataeus as treasurer	The Tyche of Antioch (figurine)	Furnos Minus, Christian funerary mosaic
The Azara herm	Drawing of Amenhotep I	Antioch, Judgment of Paris	Susa, Soldiers' Relief with inscription
Assos, Temple of Athena, Relief of a symposium	Lambaesis, Rules for the trumpetters of III Augusta	Pittacus	Athens, Heliaia, Allotment plate
Faustina II	Berenice II	Rhodes, Mycenaean jar with a bull (LH IIIa2)	Yemen, Woman's head
Tyre, Hellenistic building inscription from Al-Ma'shook	Drawing of Ramesses VII	Cirta, Sanctuary of El-Hofra, Votive stela	Mithridates V Euergetes
Tepe Sialk, Pot from the fourth millennium BCE, decorated with an ibex	Tayma, Relief of a sacrifical meal; Assyrian influence	Utica, Oil lamp with a lion and a crocodile	Bishapur, Palace, Mosaic of man dressed as an ostrich
Edessa, Mosaic of a lady	Aelius Caesar	Achmim, Funerary stela of Pamim	Susa, Soldiers' Relief
Seleucus I Nicator	Bishapur, Palace, Stucco apse	Byzantine, Dromedary-shaped lamp	Susa, Soldiers' Relief
Khorsabad, Foundation Tablet	Dibon, Mesha Stela	Boy with hoop and rooster	Livia (Paris)
Tayma, Taymanite inscription	Susa, Weight from Didyma	Greek plate with a picture of the Chimaera. Louvre, Paris (France)	Caere, Sarcophagus of the Spouses
Smyrna, Honorific decree for an officer of VI Ferrata	Khorsabad, Lamassu	Justinian I (Barberini Ivory)	Susa, Stela of Adda-hamiti-Inšušinak
Old Paphos, Epitaph of King Echetimus	Figurine of an Etruscan warrior	Senusret III	Demetrius Poliorcetes
Keki, the courtier	Eshnunna, Relief of Ištar	Aegis of Osorkon IV	Titus
Moabite warrior god	Susa, Battle axe	Arsinoe II	Ptolemy IV Philopator
Bawit, Portrait of a lady	Ptolemy X Alexander	Susa, Stone relief with a banquet scene	Enkomi, Late Bronze pectoral with sphinxes
Shabaqo	Susa, Soldiers' Relief with inscription DSm	The Azara herm	Susa, Relief with the sacrifice of goat
Sippar, Cylinder with a building inscription from the reign of Hammurabi	Nineveh, Palace of Aššurbanipal, Sumerian-Akkadian Dictionary	Mask of a Sumerian	Bishapur, Palace, Mosaic of a Dionysiac head
Bottle from Tepe Hesar level II	Corinth, Small painting of Poseidon	Rhodes, Mycenaean cup (LH IIIa2)	Susa, Apadana, Inscription DSf (Old Persian)
Sallustia Orbiana	Wadi Miyah, Palmyrene triad: Aglibol (Moon), Ba'al Šamem (Lord of Heaven), and Malekbel (Sun)	Pharsalus, Funerary stela with a relief of a flower offering	Psammetichus I
Ugarit, Temple of Baal, Stele with the king of Ugarit in front of the god Baal Saphon	Dedication by Ilîmagud Mayfa	Susa, Middle-Elamite basrelief of warrior gods	Susa, Neo-Elamite decoration (dragon)
Matidia	Khorsabad, Relief of Sargon and Sennacherib, king Sargon	Herodes Atticus	Portrait of a man, third quarter of the first century CE (the so-called "Vitellius")
Bawit, Coptic church, Model	Pupienus	Amulet of Darius	Cherchell, Inscription of Micipsa
Beirut, Tombstone of Valerius Rufus of VII Claudia	Susa, Temple of the Šutrukids, Goddess	Ptolemy IV Philopator or Ptolemy VI Philometor	Antiochus III the Great
Relief of a scribe	Pompey the Great. Louvre, Paris (France)	Susa, Soldiers' Relief, Flowers	Alexandria, Tombstone of Longinus of II Traiana
Cyrene, Statue of Antinous	Agrippa	Julia Domna	King Djedefra
Susa, Soldiers' Relief	Upper part of the Codex of Hammurabi; taken from Babylon to Susa, it was excavated in what is now Iran.	Corinth, Hoplite battle (Tydeus painter)	Bosra, Nabataean altar
Assos, Temple of Athena, Relief of two bulls	Leo I	Sobekhotep IV	Susa, Apadana, Capital
Fragment of the sarcophagus of Sety II	Susa, Apadana, Inscription DSf (Babylonian)	Mithridates VI Eupator of Pontus	Smyrna, Attalus II Philadelphus
Annius Verus	Nimrud, Relief of an Anatolian fort	Figurine from Bactria	Susa, Soldiers' Relief, Immortal, Counterweight of a spear
Tepe Sialk, Sherd from the fourth millennium BCE	Khorsabad, Relief of Sargon and Sennacherib, prince Sennacherib	King of the Eleventh/Twelfth Dynasty	Sobekhotep IV
Susa, Soldiers' Relief, Lion	Susa, Soldiers' Relief, Mythological creatures	Corbulo	Suovetaurilia
The Azara herm	Madaba, Funeral inscription of Itaybel	Salonina	Merenptah
Ostracon with a Coptic Writing Exercise (Thebaid)	Susa, Soldiers' Relief, Lion	Apollonia, Relief of two hoplites	Assos, Temple of Athena, relief, Triton
Yemen, Dromedary pendant	Timna, Dedication by Rathad'il	Megara, Figurine of two hoplites	Antiochus VI Dionysus
Susa, Soldiers' Relief	POWs being led away on an Akkadian victory stele	Nineveh, Palace of Aššurbanipal, Relief of Arbela	Sippar, Contract from the reign of Xerxes about a canal
Statuette of a Libyan	Palmyra, Tombstone of a priest	Marib, Dedication to Almaqah	Statuette of a hippopotamus
Horus, Osiris, Isis	Baalbek, Mosaic of the Birth of Paris	Antonia Minor	Cartouche of Osorkon I
Susa, Temple of the Šutrukids, Relief: the bull-man	Susa, Soldiers' Relief	Alexander, Statuette from Lower Egypt	Heraclius and Khusrau
Ptolemy XII Auletes