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.

260 pictures related to this museum

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