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, 2020.

277 pictures related to this museum

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