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Palais Du Louvre
The Louvre Palace (, ), often referred to simply as the Louvre, is an iconic French palace located on the Rive Droite, Right Bank of the Seine in Paris, occupying a vast expanse of land between the Tuileries Gardens and the church of Saint-Germain l'Auxerrois. Originally a defensive castle, it has served several government-related functions in the past, including intermittently as a royal residence between the 14th and 18th centuries. It is now mostly used by the Louvre Museum, which first opened there in 1793. While this area along the Seine had been inhabited for thousands of years, the Louvre's history starts around 1190 with its first construction as the Louvre Castle defending the western front of the Wall of Philip II Augustus, the then new city-wall of Paris. The Louvre's oldest section still standing above ground, its palatial Lescot Wing, dates from the late 1540s, when Francis I of France, Francis I started the replacement of the greatly expanded medieval castle with ...
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Cour Carrée
The Cour Carrée (, Square Court) is one of the main courtyards of the Louvre Palace in Paris. The wings surrounding it were built gradually, as the walls of the medieval Louvre were progressively demolished in favour of a French Renaissance architecture, Renaissance palace. History Construction Between 1190 and 1215, Philip II of France, Philip Augustus built the Wall of Philip II Augustus around Paris to protect the capital from the English. To reinforce this enclosure on the western side, he built the first incarnation of the Medieval Louvre Castle, Louvre, a large fortress with four high walls protected by a moat, towers, and a dungeon. Under King Charles V of France (1364-1380), with the population of Paris increasing, Paris spread well beyond the Philip Augustus wall. The king built a Wall of Charles V, new enclosure encompassing the new quarters. With the Louvre Castle now inside the new city walls, it lost much of its military value. The King renovated the castle to ...
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Louis Métezeau
Louis Métezeau (1559 – 18 August 1615) was a French architect.Babelon 1996, p. 345. Life and career Métezeau was born in Dreux, Eure-et-Loir, and died in Paris. He was the son of Thibault Métezeau, the brother of Clément II Métezeau and the nephew of Jean Métezeau. The register of the city of Dreux refers to him as ''architecte du roi et contrôleur des bâtiments royaux''.Sturgis 1901. Métezeau probably undertook the construction of the Grande Galerie of the Louvre (the eastern section is traditionally attributed to him) and may have designed the Petite Galerie. He may also have conceived the Place des Vosges in Paris. An archival discovery of 1984 led some historians to name Louis Métezeau as the architect of the Hôtel d'Angoulême. It is now suggested that Louis' father, Thibault Métezeau, more likely designed it.Gady 2008, p. 180. Métezeau was probably involved in the building of the Palais du Luxembourg for Marie de Medicis: she is believed to have sent ...
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Castle
A castle is a type of fortification, fortified structure built during the Middle Ages predominantly by the nobility or royalty and by Military order (monastic society), military orders. Scholars usually consider a ''castle'' to be the private fortified house, fortified residence of a lord or noble. This is distinct from a mansion, palace, and villa, whose main purpose was exclusively for ''pleasance'' and are not primarily fortresses but may be fortified. Use of the term has varied over time and, sometimes, has also been applied to structures such as hill forts and 19th- and 20th-century homes built to resemble castles. Over the Middle Ages, when genuine castles were built, they took on a great many forms with many different features, although some, such as curtain wall (fortification), curtain walls, arrowslits, and portcullises, were commonplace. European-style castles originated in the 9th and 10th centuries after the fall of the Carolingian Empire, which resulted ...
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Saint-Germain L'Auxerrois
The Church of Saint-Germain l'Auxerrois () is a medieval Roman Catholic church in the 1st arrondissement of Paris, directly across from the Louvre Palace. It was named for Saint Germanus of Auxerre, a medieval bishop of Auxerre, who became a papal envoy and met Saint Genevieve, the patron saint of Paris, on his journeys. Genevieve is reputed to have converted Queen Clotilde and her husband, French king Clovis I to Christianity at the tomb of Saint Germain in Auxerre.Dumoulin, Ardisson, Maingard and Antonello, ''Églises de Paris'' (2010), p. 24 The current church was built in the 13th century, with major modifications in the 15th and 16th centuries. From 1608 until 1806, it was the parish church for inhabitants of the Louvre, and the church contains the tombs of many notable artists and architects who worked on the palace. During the reconstruction following the Notre-Dame fire on the nearby Ile de la Cite, the cathedral's regular services have been moved to Saint-Germain l'Auxer ...
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Tuileries Gardens
The Tuileries Garden (, ) is a public garden between the Louvre and the Place de la Concorde in the 1st arrondissement of Paris, France. Created by Catherine de' Medici as the garden of the Tuileries Palace in 1564, it was opened to the public in 1667 and became a public park after the French Revolution. Since the 19th century, it has been a place for Parisians to celebrate, meet, stroll and relax. During the 2024 Summer Olympics and 2024 Summer Paralympics, Paralympics, it was the site of the 2024 Summer Olympics and Paralympics cauldron, Olympic and Paralympic cauldron. History The Italian Garden of Catherine de' Medici (16th century) File:Tuileries projet et jardins.jpg, Plan for the palace and gardens by Jacques I Androuet du Cerceau, 1576–1579 File:Map of Tuileries and Louvre, as in c. 1589.png, Plan of the Tuileries garden in about 1589. The Louvre is to the right In July 1559, after the accidental death of her husband, Henry II of France, Henry II, Queen Catherine ...
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Paris
Paris () is the Capital city, capital and List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, largest city of France. With an estimated population of 2,048,472 residents in January 2025 in an area of more than , Paris is the List of cities in the European Union by population within city limits, fourth-most populous city in the European Union and the List of cities proper by population density, 30th most densely populated city in the world in 2022. Since the 17th century, Paris has been one of the world's major centres of finance, diplomacy, commerce, culture, Fashion capital, fashion, and gastronomy. Because of its leading role in the French art, arts and Science and technology in France, sciences and its early adoption of extensive street lighting, Paris became known as the City of Light in the 19th century. The City of Paris is the centre of the Île-de-France region, or Paris Region, with an official estimated population of 12,271,794 inhabitants in January 2023, or ...
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Seine
The Seine ( , ) is a river in northern France. Its drainage basin is in the Paris Basin (a geological relative lowland) covering most of northern France. It rises at Source-Seine, northwest of Dijon in northeastern France in the Langres plateau, flowing through Paris and into the English Channel at Le Havre (and Honfleur on the left bank). It is navigable by ocean-going vessels as far as Rouen, from the sea. Over 60 percent of its length, as far as Burgundy (region), Burgundy, is negotiable by large barges and most tour boats, and nearly its whole length is available for recreational boating; Bateaux Mouches, excursion boats offer sightseeing tours of the river banks in the capital city, Paris. There are 37 List of bridges in Paris#Seine, bridges in Paris across the Seine (the most famous of which are the Pont Alexandre III and the Pont Neuf) and dozens List of crossings of the River Seine, more outside the city. A notable bridge, which is also the last along the course of ...
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Rive Droite
The Rive Droite (; Right Bank) is most commonly associated with the river Seine in central Paris. Here, the river flows roughly westwards, cutting the city into two parts. When facing downstream, the northern bank is to the right, whereas the southern bank (or Rive Gauche) is to the left. The Rive Droite's most famous street is the Champs-Élysées, with others of prominence being the Rue de la Paix, Rue de Rivoli, Avenue de l'Opéra and Avenue Montaigne. The President of France resides on the Rive Droite, at the Élysée Palace. Notable landmarks include the Louvre, Place de la République and Arc de Triomphe. See also * Arrondissements of Paris * Rive Gauche * Bank (geography) In geography, a bank is the land alongside a body of water. Different structures are referred to as ''banks'' in different fields of geography. In limnology (the study of inland waters), a stream bank or river bank is the terrain alongsid ... References {{Reflist Geography of Paris Riv ...
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North Wing Of Louvre Facing Main Courtyard
North is one of the four compass points or cardinal directions. It is the opposite of south and is perpendicular to east and west. ''North'' is a noun, adjective, or adverb indicating direction or geography. Etymology The word ''north'' is related to the Old High German ''nord'', both descending from the Proto-Indo-European unit *''ner-'', meaning "left; below" as north is to left when facing the rising sun. Similarly, the other cardinal directions are also related to the sun's position. The Latin word ''borealis'' comes from the Greek ''boreas'' "north wind, north" which, according to Ovid, was personified as the wind-god Boreas, the father of Calais and Zetes. ''Septentrionalis'' is from ''septentriones'', "the seven plow oxen", a name of ''Ursa Major''. The Greek ἀρκτικός (''arktikós'') is named for the same constellation, and is the source of the English word ''Arctic''. Other languages have other derivations. For example, in Lezgian, ''kefer'' can mean bo ...
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Hector Lefuel
Hector-Martin Lefuel (; 14 November 1810 – 31 December 1880) was a French architect, best known for his work on the Palais du Louvre, including Napoleon III's Louvre expansion and the reconstruction of the Pavillon de Flore. Early life and training He was born in Versailles, the son of Alexandre-Henry Lefuel (1782–1850), a building contractor. He was admitted to the École des Beaux-Arts in 1829, studied there with Jean-Nicolas Huyot and in 1833 received second place in the Prix de Rome competition. By that time, his father died, and he had to spend the next few years managing the family building business.Mead 1996. He won the Prix de Rome in 1839 and subsequently spent the years 1840 to 1844 as a pensionary of the French Academy in Rome at the Villa Medici. Early career On his return to France, he opened his own practice and was appointed a building inspector for the Chamber of Deputies. Having carried out alterations at the Château de Meudon (1848) and for the ...
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Louis Visconti
Louis Tullius Joachim Visconti (Rome February 11, 1791 – December 29, 1853) was an Italian-born French architect and designer. Life Son of the Italian archaeologist and art historian Ennio Quirino Visconti, Visconti designed many Parisian residences, public buildings and squares, including the Place Saint Sulpice and the overall design of the Fontaine Molière, and was briefly the official architect for the Louvre under Napoleon III. He is probably most famed for designing the 1842 tomb of Napoleon at Les Invalides. His students include Joseph Poelaert, designer of the Palais de justice de Bruxelles. Louis Visconti came from a famous family of archaeologists - his grandfather Giambattista Antonio Visconti (1722–1784) had founded the Vatican Museums and his father, Ennio Quirino Visconti (1751–1818), was a curator. Ennio and his family moved to Paris in 1798 and were naturalised as French citizens in 1799, with Ennio becoming a curator of antiquities a ...
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Percier And Fontaine
Percier and Fontaine was a noted partnership between French architects Charles Percier and Pierre François Léonard Fontaine. History Together, Percier and Fontaine were inventors and major proponents of the rich and grand, consciously archaeological versions of early 19th-century Neoclassical architecture known as Directoire style and Empire style. They were the official government architects for Emperor Napoleon. They were also "two of the most celebrated teachers at the legendary Ecole des Beaux-Arts." Following Charles Percier's death in 1838, Fontaine designed a tomb in their characteristic style in the Pere Lachaise Cemetery. Percier and Fontaine had lived together as well as being colleagues. Fontaine married late in life and after his death in 1853 his wife placed his body in the same tomb according to his wishes. References Further reading * Charles Percier, Pierre François Léonard Fontaine (2018)''The Complete Works of Percier and Fontaine.''New York, Prin ...
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