Paris, Louvre

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 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 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 galery 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 rcently 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 diploma’s, 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.

261 pictures related to this museum

A Christian phylacterium, invoking the protection of several celestial beings to protect one Alexandra	Temple of the Šutrukids, goddess	Apollonia, Relief to commemorate the battle of Actium	Temple of the Šutrukids, relief: the bull-man
Sherd from the fourth millennium BCE	Titus	Imperator inscription (EDCS-05600393)	Khorsabad, Relief of two courtiers
Inscription of Nicocles	Susa, DSf (Old Persian)	Seleucus I Nicator	Temple of the Šutrukids, relief
Mosaic of the Birth of Paris	Alexander the Great. Portrait from Delos	Ramesses VII	Tydeus painter, Hoplite battle
Pittacus	Antonia Minor	Statues of Sekhmet	Sallustia Orbiana
Nineveh, Palace of Aššurbanipal, Relief of Arbela	Sasanian cup	Susa, neo-Elamite decoration	Achaemenid administrative document
Ptolemy XII Auletes	Sasanian king, perhaps Peroz	Aegis of Osorkon IV	Ajax and Cassandra.
Bottle from Tepe Hesar level II	Pompey the Great. Louvre, Paris (France)	Isis and Nectanebo II (Serapeum, Saqqara)	Geta
Portrait of a Roman man (CE 070-100)	Olympia, Temple of Zeus, Model	Tyche (figurine)	Statue of queen Napirasu, wife of Untaš-Napiriša
Rome, S. Pietro, Sarcophagus with Christ as Lawgiver	The Azara herm	Messalina	Artemis and Apollo killing the Niobids
Ugarit, Temple of Baal, Stele with the king of Ugarit in front of the god Baal Saphon	Caere, Banditaccia necropolis, Wall painting of an archer	Khorsabad, Iron tool	Sobekhotep IV
Eretria, Two-headed phial	Susa, Soldiers' Relief	Mask of a Sumerian	Rhodes, Bull on a Mycenaean jar (LH IIIa2)
The Azara herm	Smyrna, Diadumenianus	Susa, Soldiers' Relief, mythological creatures	Temple of Athena, relief, symposium
A stucco apse	Fragment of the sarcophagus of Sety II	Psamtek I	Rim of a cup with the name of Xerxes
The Azara herm	Khorsabad, Foundation Tablet	King of the Eleventh/Twelfth Dynasty	Utica, Funeral stela
Charlemagne	Heraclius and Khusrau	Corinth, Small painting of Poseidon	Cleopatra II or III as Isis
Arsinoe III	Susa, Soldiers' Relief	Matidia	Gortyn, Inscription with laws
Susa, Soldiers' Relief	Aššur, Annals of Tikulti-Ninurta II	Yemen, Relief of a bird eating grapes	Cirta, Sanctuary of El-Hofra, Votive stela
Immortal (Susa)	Drawing of Amenhotep I	King Sargon II (right) and his crown prince Sennacherib (left)	A bowl from Tepe Hesar I
Khorsabad, Lamassu	Bosra, Nabataean altar	Antiochus III the Great	Rules for the trumpetters of III Augusta (EDCS-11000956)
Model of a tower	Salonina	Upper part of the Codex of Hammurabi; taken from Babylon to Susa, it was excavated in what is now Iran.	Nicomedia, Hellenistic Funerary relief
The body of Hector	Nineveh, Palace of Aššurbanipal, Sumerian-Akkadian Dictionary	Valerian Jr	Aglibol (Moon), Ba'al Šamem (Lord of Heaven), and Malekbel (Sun)
Apries	Apollonia, Relief of two hoplites	Susa, Soldiers' Relief	Montuhotep II wearing the red deshret crown
Thelsae, Nabataean altar	POWs being led away on an Akkadian victory stele	Old Paphos, Epitaph of King Echetimus	Tayma, Dedication to Salm
Ugarit, Alphabet tablet	Stele of Isis, Horus, and Cleopatra VII Philopator	Kition, Statuette of a woman	Stele of the "smiting god" from Ugarit.
Agrippa Postumus	Greek plate with a picture of the Chimaera. Louvre, Paris (France)	Enkomi, Late Bronze pectoral with sphinxes	Susa, Soldiers' Relief
Relief with the sacrifice of goat	Agrippa	Ptolemy IV Philopator or Ptolemy VI Philometor	Pot from the fourth millennium BCE
Alexander IV	Khorsabad, Relief of rafts on a great river	Caere, Sarcophagus of the Spouses	Boy with hoop and rooster
The "Mistress of the animals": slab from the original temple of Artemis. The archer partly visible to the right must be Heracles	Roman officer	Pupienus	Susa, Soldiers' Relief, lion
Dionysiac head	Faustina II	Antioch, Judgment of Paris	Saba, the Arab warrior Mushayqat Hamayat ibn Yusuf on a dromedary
The counterweight of a spear	Darius' DZb inscription	Demetrius Poliorcetes	Yemen, Woman's head
Gold plate with royal warrior	Temple of the Šutrukids, inscription	Dancers on a very ancient piece of pottery from Rhagae	Statuette of a hippopotamus
Relief of a scribe	Herodes Atticus	Portrait of a man, third quarter of the first century CE (the so-called "Vitellius")	Ptolemy IV Philopator
Susa, Soldiers' Relief	Dedication by Ilîmagud Mayfa	Leo I	Flower offering on a funeral stela from Pharsalus
Alexander, statuette from Lower Egypt	The Mesha Stela	The Albani Alexander	Cartouche of Osorkon I
Punic sphinx	Persian nobleman; statue from Egypt	Crassus	Vase painting of an archaic Greek galley
Treaty between Naram-Sin and Elam	The Awan King List	Middle-Elamite model of a sun ritual	Informal portrait of Sobekhotep IV
Idalion, statue of Melqart	Alexander the Great as founder of Alexandria	Berenice II	Portrait of a man from the Temple of Apollo in Pyla
Utica, Oil lamp	Statuette of Bes, dedicated by Pakher, chancellor of king Psamtek I	Giza, Diner of Nefer	Susa, DSf (Babylonian)
Kition, Egyptianizing capital	Byblos, Relief of a lion	Temple of Athena, relief, Triton	Susa, Soldiers' Relief, lion
Susa, Soldiers' Relief with inscription	Stone relief with a banquet scene	Fausta	Rhodes, Head-shaped aryballos
Funeral inscription of Itaybel	Rhodes, Dish with a sphinx	Portait of a priest	Socrates
Nectanebo I, wearing the crown of Upper Egypt	Osorkon I	Merenptah	Theodosius II
Stele of Šutruru	Horus, Osiris, Isis (from the reign of Osorkon II)	Esarhaddon and his mother attend the restoration of Babylon	Funerary portrait
Nimrud, Northwest Palace of Aššurnasirpal II, Foundation Inscription	Akhenaten and Nefertiti	Idalion, orientalizing gold dish	Antinous
Amulet of Darius	Corbulo	Julia Domna	Nectanebo I wearing the war crown
Cleopatra VII in Egyptian style	Susa, Soldiers' Relief, flowers	Cyprus, bilingual inscription	Scythian archer on an Athenian dish
Annius Verus	Battle axe	Susa, Soldiers' Relief with inscription	King Djedefra
Timna, Dedication by Rathad'il	Sphinx with the portrait of king Siamun	An Egyptian poem about the battle of Kadesh	Mithridates VI Eupator of Pontus
Ptolemy II Philadelphus	Ptolemy XI Alexander, gold sealing ring	Sobekhotep IV	Dedication to Inšušinak
Tombstone of Iglum, son of Sa'adillat	Babylonian map of the western Zagros. A road, a mountain, and a river are indicated.	Ptolemy X Alexander	Mosaic of a musician
Rhodes, Mycenaean cup (LH IIIa2)	Statuette of an Etruscan warrior	Susa, Soldiers' Relief, sphinxes	Temple of Athena, relief, bulls
Yemen, Dromedary pendant	Ptolemy III Euergetes	Susa, Soldiers' Relief	Shabaqo
Amasis	Byblos, Temple of Baalat, Figurines	Suovetaurilia	Stele of Adda-hamiti-Inšušinak
Marib, Dedication to Almaqah	Relief of an Anatolian fort (from the Assyrian city Nimrud)	Aelius Caesar	Didia Clara
Susa, Soldiers' Relief	Statuette of Raherka, inspector of the scribes, and his wife Merseanch	Tyre, Hellenistic building inscription from Al-Ma'shook	Ptolemy I Soter
A Sumerian phalanx on the Vulture Stele from Lagash	Letter from Artabanus II, requesting the appointment of one Hecataeus as treasurer	A Ptolemaic queen (Cleopatra I, Cleopatra II or Berenice III)	Susa, weight from Didyma
Tablet from Girsu with a fragment of a Sumerian Creation Epic	Stone fish	Senusret III	Doorknobs from Choga Zanbil (Paris)
Smyrna, Honorific decree for an officer of VI Ferrata	Susa, DSf (Elamite)	Figurine from Bactria	Middle-Elamite basrelief of warrior gods
Utica, Oil lamp	Demetrius Poliorcetes	Mosaic of man dressed as an ostrich	Statuette of a Libyan
Arsinoe II	Temple of the Šutrukids, relief	Megara, Figurine of two hoplites	Keki, the courtier
Livia	The Azara herm	The Azara herm	Taharqo venerating the falcon-god Hemen
Byblos, Temple of Baalat, Figurine of a bull	Justinian (Barberini Ivory)	Senusret III	Head of Croesus on a Greek vase
Marib, Dedication to Almaqah, detail	Ramesses IV	Moabite warrior god	Julia Mamaea
Tayma, Taymanite inscription	Susa, Apadana, capital	Susa, Silver rhyton	Hellenistic or Parthian figurine of a harpist
Khorsabad, Lion-taming spirit ("Gilgameš")