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

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