Paris Essentials: A Complete Louvre Walk-Through and 10 Iconic Works You Can’t Miss

Louvre Museum | Overview

The Louvre (Louvre Museum) is the largest and most celebrated comprehensive art museum in the world. Its holdings span ancient Egypt, the Near East, Greece and Rome, through the European Renaissance and modern eras, totaling more than 500,000 treasured works.

Originally a stone fortress commissioned by King Philip II in the late 12th century to defend Paris, it was transformed into a royal palace by Charles V in the 14th century. In the 16th century, Francis I rebuilt it on a grand Renaissance scale, laying the foundation for today’s splendid palace. After the French Revolution, in 1793, royal and ecclesiastical collections were nationalized and the Louvre officially opened as a museum.

Today, over ten million visitors a year make the pilgrimage to admire artifacts from ancient Egypt, the Near East, Greece, Rome, and European painting and sculpture from the Middle Ages to the 19th century. The museum’s three superstars—“Mona Lisa,” “Winged Victory of Samothrace,” and “Venus de Milo”—are must-sees for travelers worldwide. Whether you’re on an in-depth visit or a whirlwind tour, this thousand-year treasury lets you experience the brilliance of human civilization.

Louvre Museum | Getting there

The Louvre sits in the center of Paris and is extremely easy to reach. Take Métro lines 1 or 7 to Palais-Royal – Musée du Louvre station and follow signs to the underground Carrousel du Louvre entrance—highly recommended for shelter from the weather and usually shorter queues than the iconic Pyramid entrance. There is also the Porte des Lions riverside gate, occasionally opened as an alternate route.

For lodging, the 1st arrondissement is ideal: you can walk to the Louvre, Tuileries Garden, and the Opéra Garnier. For more budget flexibility, consider the Left Bank’s Saint-Germain-des-Prés or the Right Bank’s Le Marais—both have direct Métro access to the museum and distinct neighborhood vibes.

Louvre Museum | Visitor information

• Opening hours: 09:00–18:00 (last entry one hour before closing); open until 21:00 on Wednesdays and Fridays; closed Tuesdays.

• Tickets: €22 for adults; free for visitors under 18 and for EU residents under 26.

• Free admission: The first Friday of every month after 18:00 (except July and August) and all day on Bastille Day, 14 July—advance online reservation required.

Whichever entrance you use, it is strongly recommended to pre-book a timed ticket via the official Louvre website or app; scanning the QR code saves considerable waiting.

Audio guide rental (Nintendo New 3DS units) costs €6. Note that the museum has announced this system will be retired in September 2025 and replaced. Rental requires valid ID and can be reserved when buying tickets online—highly advised, as units often sell out quickly.

Louvre Museum | Architecture: a dialogue between the medieval palace and the modern glass pyramid

Even before you enter, the Louvre’s exterior warrants a pause. The palace itself is a historical artwork: Renaissance and Baroque façades line the north and south wings, while the east front (Colonnade), designed by Claude Perrault in the 17th century, displays a classical order of columns. Pale stone, gray roofs, and a rhythm of dormers create quintessential French courtly proportions.

The three wings form a “U” around the vast Cour Napoléon. In its center rises the glass pyramid (Pyramide du Louvre), completed in 1989 as part of the Grand Louvre project by Chinese-American architect I. M. Pei. Standing 21.6 m high with a 35 m base and assembled from 673 glass panes, this crystalline apex contrasts sharply yet harmoniously with the classical stone walls. Sunlight pours through to the Hall Napoléon below, while historic façades mirror in the glass—an 800-year-old palace refracted into the present.

The pyramid was controversial when unveiled—likened to an oversized skylight and blamed for disrupting courtyard proportions. Today, like the Eiffel Tower, it is a Paris icon. At night, its illuminated form reflects in surrounding pools, the fourth “masterpiece” of the Louvre.

Louvre Museum | Gallery overview

The museum is divided into three main wings around Cour Napoléon. On the left (along the Seine) is the Denon Wing—the busiest. Opposite on the right is the Richelieu Wing, near the Tuileries and Carrousel mall. Straight ahead beneath the Pyramid is the Sully Wing, the museum’s oldest core.

Denon Wing: a walk of fame for classical painting

Situated on the Louvre’s south side along the Seine, the Denon Wing is the most-visited of the three wings. If you can choose only one to explore in depth, Denon is the surest crowd-pleaser. Masterpieces are densely packed here, spanning European Renaissance to Romanticism—many visitors fall in love with the Louvre at first sight in these rooms. Most gallery walls are painted deep red and lined with gilded frames, creating a powerful, visually striking atmosphere.

Ground floor (0 F) highlight: the “Winged Victory of Samothrace,” poised atop the Daru staircase. The instant you enter you sense her striding forward on a sea breeze. Nearby are numerous ancient Greek and Roman sculptures.

First floor (1 F) is the most exciting and popular. World-famous “Mona Lisa” faces the monumental “Wedding at Cana,” setting up a playful visual dialogue between a small canvas and a giant one. This floor hosts the most complete corridor of Italian Renaissance art, featuring Leonardo, Raphael, Caravaggio, and more. In the red-walled rooms you’ll find three titans of French historical painting: “Liberty Leading the People,” “The Raft of the Medusa,” and “The Coronation of Napoleon I.” Do not miss the 17th-century Baroque splendor of the Galerie d’Apollon: beneath its glittering vaulted ceiling, French royal hard-stone vessels and crown jewels gleam. This long gallery is said to have inspired Versailles’ Hall of Mirrors.

Second floor displays mainly 18th-century French paintings. If portraits and interior scenes of that era interest you, take a quick look; otherwise most visitors skip it.

The basement Islamic Art section spans the Cour Visconti under a floating metal canopy. It showcases ceramics, calligraphy, textiles, and metalwork from Spain to India. At the end of the Michelangelo Gallery stands Canova’s “Psyche Revived by Cupid’s Kiss,” bathed in natural light—an exquisitely tranquil space.

Sully Wing: From the Nile and Aegean to the Colosseum—the ancient-civilization and historical heart of the Louvre

The Sully Wing, directly in front of the glass pyramid, is the oldest of the three wings and the Louvre’s historical starting point, charting its evolution from a 12th-century fortress. Emphasizing cultural depth, it houses rich collections from ancient Egypt, Greece, Rome, and Mesopotamia, and on the basement level you can see the original medieval ramparts. Here you will meet mysterious mummies, the granite Sphinx, the ever-elegant armless Venus, and early artifacts from the Fertile Crescent and eastern Mediterranean. Anyone seeking a crash course in archaeology and ancient civilizations must not skip this wing.

Basement level core highlight: the towering “Great Sphinx of Tanis” guards the Egyptian collection entrance. Inside you’ll find mummies, sarcophagi, writing tablets, grave goods, and the superb “Seated Scribe.” At the end of the galleries, view the medieval foundations of the original royal fortress walls.

Ground floor focuses on ancient Greek and Roman sculpture, including the beloved “Venus de Milo” and many busts of gods, athletes, and mythic figures.

First floor extends to artifacts from the ancient Near East, Cyprus, and the eastern Mediterranean. Displays rotate, and though less dense than Denon’s, they’re rewarding if you’re interested in ancient religion and trade cultures.

Richelieu Wing: A time-travelling journey from Babylonian law codes to Parisian court life

On the Louvre’s north side near the Tuileries Garden and underground mall entrance, the Richelieu Wing is less crowded than Denon yet holds spectacular collections. Ranging from Mesopotamian law stelae and Assyrian palace guardian statues to French classical sculpture and Napoleon III’s palace furniture, Richelieu focuses on “material and power”: whether stone-carved laws or palace chandeliers, each object weaves stories of authority and history, making this wing a more time-hopping experience.

Basement is the key Near Eastern civilization zone. In Room 227 stands the two-metre-high basalt “Code of Hammurabi,” its cuneiform laws—“an eye for an eye”—ranking among the world’s earliest written codes and affirming royal power in the ancient Near East. Adjacent rooms feature colossal Assyrian Lamassu human-headed winged bulls and lion reliefs, recreating palace grandeur and underscoring Mesopotamia’s importance in the Louvre.

Ground floor centers on French sculpture and palace courtyards. Cour Puget and Cour Marly display 18th-century garden statues and Greco-Roman-style heroic scenes; most famous are the reclining “Sleeping Hermaphroditus,” caryatid columns, and playful child-and-goose figures. Natural light floods the courts, enhancing the stonework’s depth. This level also includes the lavish Napoleon III Apartments—banquet hall, crystal chandeliers, and crimson-and-gold sofas offer a vivid glimpse of 19th-century Parisian court life.

First floor exhibits mainly 17th- to 19th-century French royal furniture, porcelain, and selected Dutch Golden Age paintings.

Louvre Museum | Must-See Masterpieces

Want to “check in” successfully in one visit? The Louvre is vast—it truly can’t be covered in a single sweep. If you have only a day, or even half a day, the smartest tactic is to “choose the highlights and follow the route.” After you enter, the museum helpfully marks a “Masterpiece” itinerary in its booklet so you can enjoy the classic gems of all three wings within limited time. Before you set out, get acquainted with the background stories and artistic value of these must-see masterpieces.

“Mona Lisa” (Mona Lisa / La Joconde)

Painted by Leonardo da Vinci in the early 16th century, the work is believed to portray Florentine merchant’s wife Lisa Gherardini. Stolen in 1911 and recovered two years later, the painting’s fame—and mystique—soared.

Its enigmatic smile and the persistent sense that her gaze follows viewers are legendary.Da Vinci’s sfumato technique creates soft gradations of light and shade, revealing deep insight into humanity, psychology, and nature—a quintessential Renaissance portrait.

📍 Denon Wing, first floor, Salle des États

“The Wedding at Cana” (Les Noces de Cana)

This gigantic canvas by Italian Renaissance master Paolo Veronese (1563) depicts Jesus performing the water-into-wine miracle at a wedding feast in Cana. More than 130 figures—musicians, guests, servants, and Christ himself—populate a scene staged like a court banquet.

Measuring 6.7 × 9.9 meters, it is the largest painting in the Louvre. Vibrant color, grand composition, and finely rendered expressions epitomize the late, sumptuous style of the Venetian school. Seized by Napoleon in 1797, it remains one of the museum’s crown jewels.

📍 Denon Wing, first floor, Salle des États, facing the “Mona Lisa”

“Venus de Milo” (Vénus de Milo)

This ancient Greek sculpture, created in the 2nd century BC and unearthed on Milos in 1820, still prompts debate about its missing arms.

Thought to depict Aphrodite (Venus), the goddess of love, the statue’s graceful S-curve pose, serene expression, and mysterious incompleteness embody the ideal beauty of the Hellenistic era.

📍 Sully Wing, ground floor, Room 345

“Winged Victory of Samothrace” (Victoire de Samothrace)

Carved around the 2nd century BC to commemorate a naval triumph, this Greek sculpture shows the winged goddess Nike alighting on a ship’s prow.

Discovered on Samothrace in 1863, it is hailed as the pinnacle of dynamic Hellenistic sculpture: wind-swept drapery and forward-leaning body evoke power and glory. Though head and arms are missing, the moment’s energy remains intact.

📍 Denon Wing, ground floor, atop the Daru staircase

“Code of Hammurabi” (Code de Hammurabi)

This basalt stele from the 18th century BC, issued by Babylonian king Hammurabi, bears more than 280 legal statutes—one of the earliest, most complete written law codes known. The relief at the top shows Hammurabi receiving a scepter of authority from the sun-god Shamash.

Beyond its legal importance, the piece is a classic fusion of law, religion, and divine kingship in Mesopotamian art.

📍 Richelieu Wing, basement level, Room 227

“The Seated Scribe” (Le Scribe accroupi)

Created during Egypt’s Old Kingdom (2600–2350 BC), this statue portrays a bare-chested scribe sitting alertly, eyes inlaid with crystal that seem to follow viewers.

One of the few highly realistic Ancient Egyptian portraits, it highlights the bureaucratic elite’s status and the period’s advanced artistry.

📍 Sully Wing, basement level, Egyptian galleries

“Great Sphinx of Tanis” (Grand Sphinx de Tanis)

Carved from granite, this human-headed lion is among the largest sphinxes found outside Egypt. Likely commissioned by a pharaoh of the Old Kingdom and later reinscribed by several rulers, it symbolizes royal power and sacred strength.

The statue dominates the entrance to the Egyptian collection.

📍 Sully Wing, basement level, Egyptian entrance

“The Coronation of Napoleon” (Le Sacre de Napoléon)

Painted by Jacques-Louis David between 1805 and 1807, the work portrays Napoleon crowning himself in Notre-Dame Cathedral in 1804. The enormous canvas teems with figures and offers extraordinary documentary value.

David’s meticulous handling of light, expression, costume, and power dynamics makes it a New Classical masterpiece.

📍 Denon Wing, first floor, red-walled Room 702

Further reading

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