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

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