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The Cour Carrée (, Square Court) is one of the main courtyards of the
Louvre Palace The Louvre Palace (, ), often referred to simply as the Louvre, is an iconic French palace located on the Right Bank of the Seine in Paris, occupying a vast expanse of land between the Tuileries Gardens and the church of Saint-Germain l'Auxe ...
in
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 ci ...
. The wings surrounding it were built gradually, as the walls of the
medieval Louvre The Louvre Castle (), also referred to as the Medieval Louvre (), was a castle () begun by Philip II of France on the right bank of the Seine, to reinforce the city wall he had built around Paris. Over time, it was expanded but was generally ...
were progressively demolished in favour of a Renaissance palace.


History


Construction

Between 1190 and 1215,
Philip Augustus Philip II (21 August 1165 – 14 July 1223), also known as Philip Augustus (), was King of France from 1180 to 1223. His predecessors had been known as kings of the Franks (Latin: ''rex Francorum''), but from 1190 onward, Philip became the firs ...
built the Wall of Philip II Augustus around
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 ci ...
to protect the capital from the English. To reinforce this enclosure on the western side, he built the first incarnation of the
Louvre The Louvre ( ), or the Louvre Museum ( ), is a national art museum in Paris, France, and one of the most famous museums in the world. It is located on the Rive Droite, Right Bank of the Seine in the city's 1st arrondissement of Paris, 1st arron ...
, a large fortress with four high walls protected by a moat, towers, and a dungeon. Under King
Charles V of France Charles V (21 January 1338 – 16 September 1380), called the Wise (; ), was King of France from 1364 to his death in 1380. His reign marked an early high point for France during the Hundred Years' War as his armies recovered much of the terri ...
(1364-1380), with the population of Paris increasing, Paris spread well beyond the Philip Augustus wall. The king built a 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 make it more comfortable, installing numerous windows, adding chimneys, statues, turrets and gardens.


16th century

After returning from a two-year captivity in Italy and Spain following his defeat at
Pavia Pavia ( , ; ; ; ; ) is a town and comune of south-western Lombardy, in Northern Italy, south of Milan on the lower Ticino (river), Ticino near its confluence with the Po (river), Po. It has a population of c. 73,086. The city was a major polit ...
in 1524, King
Francis I of France Francis I (; ; 12 September 1494 – 31 March 1547) was King of France from 1515 until his death in 1547. He was the son of Charles, Count of Angoulême, and Louise of Savoy. He succeeded his first cousin once removed and father-in-law Louis&nbs ...
wanted to transform the old castle of the Louvre into a
Renaissance style Renaissance architecture is the European architecture of the period between the early 15th and early 16th centuries in different regions, demonstrating a conscious revival and development of certain elements of Ancient Greece, ancient Greek and ...
palace, like those he encountered during his captivity. In 1528, he ordered the demolition of the Grosse Tour (Great Tower), which had served as a
keep A keep is a type of fortified tower built within castles during the Middle Ages by European nobility. Scholars have debated the scope of the word ''keep'', but usually consider it to refer to large towers in castles that were fortified residen ...
. This took four months and the tower was replaced by a moat serving the main court of the castle. In 1546, the King asked architect Pierre Lescot and sculptor Jean Goujon to further renovate the castle. After Francis I's death, his son
Henry II Henry II may refer to: Kings * Saint Henry II, Holy Roman Emperor (972–1024), crowned King of Germany in 1002, of Italy in 1004 and Emperor in 1014 *Henry II of England (1133–89), reigned from 1154 *Henry II of Jerusalem and Cyprus (1271–1 ...
(1547–1559) continued the work and oversaw demolition of the west wall, which he replaced with a Renaissance palace of the same length between December 1546 and March 1549. This area, the current Lescot Wing, hosted the Salle des Gardes (Hall of the Guards), today known as the Salle des Caryatides, a room for events which also serves as a ballroom. Many historical events took place there, such as the wedding of King Henry IV, an episode of the St. Bartholomew's Day massacre, the funeral wake of Henry IV, and the first performance of a
Molière Jean-Baptiste Poquelin (; 15 January 1622 (baptised) – 17 February 1673), known by his stage name Molière (, ; ), was a French playwright, actor, and poet, widely regarded as one of the great writers in the French language and world liter ...
play for King
Louis XIV LouisXIV (Louis-Dieudonné; 5 September 16381 September 1715), also known as Louis the Great () or the Sun King (), was King of France from 1643 until his death in 1715. His verified reign of 72 years and 110 days is the List of longest-reign ...
on October 16, 1658. Henry II then demolished the southern wall to pave the way for the construction of the Pavillon du Roi from 1553 to 1556, located at the junction of the south and west wings. At this stage, the building was very heterogeneous since two wings were in the style of a Renaissance palace, while the other two remained in the style of a medieval castle with walls, battlements, and towers. Construction on this court paused as Queen
Catherine de' Medici Catherine de' Medici (, ; , ; 13 April 1519 – 5 January 1589) was an Italian Republic of Florence, Florentine noblewoman of the Medici family and Queen of France from 1547 to 1559 by marriage to Henry II of France, King Henry II. Sh ...
focused on the
Tuileries Palace The Tuileries Palace (, ) was a palace in Paris which stood on the right bank of the Seine, directly in the west-front of the Louvre Palace. It was the Parisian residence of most French monarchs, from Henri IV to Napoleon III, until it was b ...
, while Henry IV built the
Grande Galerie The (), in the past also known as the Galerie du Bord de l'Eau (Waterside Gallery), is a wing of the Louvre Palace, perhaps more properly referred to as the Aile de la Grande Galerie (Grand Gallery Wing), since it houses the longest and largest ...
along the
River 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 p ...
, also known as the Grande Galerie du Bord de l'Eau (Grand Waterside Gallery), which linked the Louvre and the Tuileries. He also planned to quadruple the size of the courtyard of the Louvre Castle by demolishing the old walls and extending the existing Renaissance wings.


17th century

Louis XIII Louis XIII (; sometimes called the Just; 27 September 1601 – 14 May 1643) was King of France from 1610 until his death in 1643 and King of Navarre (as Louis II) from 1610 to 1620, when the crown of Navarre was merged with the French crown. ...
demolished the north wall of the castle in 1624. Since the Lescot Wing had been built for the small courtyard of the original castle, it was not easy to integrate it into a courtyard with sides twice as long. The new architect,
Jacques Lemercier Jacques Lemercier (; c. 1585 in Pontoise – 13 January 1654 in Paris) was a French architect and engineer, one of the influential trio that included Louis Le Vau and François Mansart who formed the classicizing French Baroque manner, drawin ...
, duplicated this wing to the north, the present Lemercier Wing (1636), and installed a taller pavilion between the two, the Pavillon de l'Horloge.
Louis XIV LouisXIV (Louis-Dieudonné; 5 September 16381 September 1715), also known as Louis the Great () or the Sun King (), was King of France from 1643 until his death in 1715. His verified reign of 72 years and 110 days is the List of longest-reign ...
had the east wall demolished and renovated by architect Louis Le Vau. These last two walls to be demolished, on the north and east, were simply razed and the ditches filled. Their foundations remained intact and were rediscovered during excavations of the courtyard in 1866. During the construction of the Grand Louvre, basement-level galleries were created for exhibiting the artefacts and architectural remnants of the
Medieval Louvre The Louvre Castle (), also referred to as the Medieval Louvre (), was a castle () begun by Philip II of France on the right bank of the Seine, to reinforce the city wall he had built around Paris. Over time, it was expanded but was generally ...
. Louis XIV also had the length of the south wing doubled and built the north wing. Three sides of the courtyard were then in place. The yet to be built east wing was very important as it faced the city with other buildings nearby. This would be the new main entrance to the Louvre. After a contest launched by
Jean-Baptiste Colbert Jean-Baptiste Colbert (; 29 August 1619 – 6 September 1683) was a French statesman who served as First Minister of State from 1661 until his death in 1683 under the rule of King Louis XIV. His lasting impact on the organization of the countr ...
, the King decided in 1665 to have the
Louvre Colonnade The Louvre Colonnade is the easternmost façade of the Louvre Palace in Paris. It has been celebrated as the foremost masterpiece of French architectural classicism since its construction, mostly between 1667 and 1674. The design, dominated by t ...
built outside on the east by
Claude Perrault Claude Perrault (; 25 September 1613 – 9 October 1688) was a French physician and amateur architect, best known for his participation in the design of the east façade of the Louvre in Paris.expropriation Nationalization (nationalisation in British English) is the process of transforming privately owned assets into public assets by bringing them under the public ownership of a national government or state. Nationalization contrasts with p ...
, the work dragged on because it was necessary to buy the land and the houses in front of the future colonnade to clear the view. The King moved to the
Palace of Versailles The Palace of Versailles ( ; ) is a former royal residence commissioned by King Louis XIV located in Versailles, Yvelines, Versailles, about west of Paris, in the Yvelines, Yvelines Department of Île-de-France, Île-de-France region in Franc ...
after 1674. Louis XIV also decided to double the width of the south wing in 1668. This is why today there are two series of rooms: on the courtyard side, the rooms of the Charles X Museum; on the side near the river, the rooms of the Campana Gallery for the display of Greek pottery. The river side of the south wing was not completed until a century later. After the royal court moved to Versailles, the unfinished buildings hosted artists. Heterogeneous constructions were erected in the courtyard. After its abandonment and degradation during the Revolution,
Louis XVIII Louis XVIII (Louis Stanislas Xavier; 17 November 1755 – 16 September 1824), known as the Desired (), was King of France from 1814 to 1824, except for a brief interruption during the Hundred Days in 1815. Before his reign, he spent 23 y ...
restored the Louvre and put his monogram (two L's of stick characters turning their backs) on the three exterior façades of the Cour Carrée (including the colonnade), despite only restoring them.


Description

The buildings form a square of about 160 meters on each side. It consists of eight wings punctuated with eight
pavilion In architecture, ''pavilion'' has several meanings; * It may be a subsidiary building that is either positioned separately or as an attachment to a main building. Often it is associated with pleasure. In palaces and traditional mansions of Asia ...
s. Starting at the northwest corner and going clockwise, the names of the eight pavilions are: * Pavillon de Beauvais (at the northwest corner) * Pavillon de Marengo (between the two north wings) * Pavillon Nord-Est (at the northeast corner) * Pavillon Central or Pavillon Saint-Germain l'Auxerrois (between the two east wings, with the
Colonnade In classical architecture, a colonnade is a long sequence of columns joined by their entablature, often free-standing, or part of a building. Paired or multiple pairs of columns are normally employed in a colonnade which can be straight or curv ...
on the east side) * Pavillon Sud-Est (at the southeast corner) * Pavillon des Arts (between the two south wings) * Pavillon du Roi or King's Pavilion (at the southwest corner) * Pavillon Sully, also referred to as the Pavillon de l'Horloge (between the two west wings). It is recognisable by its clock, its four groups of monumental
caryatid A caryatid ( ; ; ) is a sculpted female figure serving as an architectural support taking the place of a column or a pillar supporting an entablature on her head. The Greek term ''karyatides'' literally means "maidens of Karyai", an ancient t ...
s, its
frieze In classical architecture, the frieze is the wide central section of an entablature and may be plain in the Ionic order, Ionic or Corinthian order, Corinthian orders, or decorated with bas-reliefs. Patera (architecture), Paterae are also ...
s of children, and its high domed roof, the prototype for all the domes of the Louvre, to maintain the harmony sought by successive architects of the Louvre. The two wings on either side of the Sully Pavilion are named: * Lescot Wing, built from 1546 to 1558, leading to the King's Pavilion to the south * Lemercier Wing, built in 1639, leading to the Beauvais Pavilion to the north At the center of the Cour Carrée, there is a fountain. Although the buildings were built over a period of 250 years, they show great homogeneity. The ground floor and the two floors have successions of windows,
bas-relief Relief is a sculptural method in which the sculpted pieces remain attached to a solid background of the same material. The term ''relief'' is from the Latin verb , to raise (). To create a sculpture in relief is to give the impression that th ...
s, and statues in niches. The French sovereigns left their monograms on the parts they built. Those of Henry II, Charles IX, Henry IV, Louis XIII and Louis XIV can easily be identified and they help track the history of construction. The Republic did not want to be outdone and installed a rooster in the
pediment Pediments are a form of gable in classical architecture, usually of a triangular shape. Pediments are placed above the horizontal structure of the cornice (an elaborated lintel), or entablature if supported by columns.Summerson, 130 In an ...
of the west façade of the central pavilion of the east wing.


Example of sculptures

All the reliefs and statues in the Cour Carrée represent specific allegories or figures. Here is the example of the first window on the left of the second floor of the Lemercier wing on the Pavillon de l'Horloge. Above the window, is an allegorical figure of Law. Then, at window level from left to right:
Moses In Abrahamic religions, Moses was the Hebrews, Hebrew prophet who led the Israelites out of slavery in the The Exodus, Exodus from ancient Egypt, Egypt. He is considered the most important Prophets in Judaism, prophet in Judaism and Samaritani ...
with the
Ten Commandments The Ten Commandments (), or the Decalogue (from Latin , from Ancient Greek , ), are religious and ethical directives, structured as a covenant document, that, according to the Hebrew Bible, were given by YHWH to Moses. The text of the Ten ...
; the Egyptian goddess
Isis Isis was a major goddess in ancient Egyptian religion whose worship spread throughout the Greco-Roman world. Isis was first mentioned in the Old Kingdom () as one of the main characters of the Osiris myth, in which she resurrects her sla ...
with a sistrum; the Inca emperor Manco Cápac with the sun representing his father, the sun god
Inti Inti is the ancient Inca mythology, Inca solar deity, sun god. He is revered as the national Tutelary deity, patron of the Inca state. Although most consider Inti the sun god, he is more appropriately viewed as a cluster of solar aspects, since t ...
; and
Numa Pompilius Numa Pompilius (; 753–672 BC; reigned 715–672 BC) was the Roman mythology, legendary second king of Rome, succeeding Romulus after a one-year interregnum. He was of Sabine origin, and many of Rome's most important religious and political ins ...
, the second king of Rome.


References


External links


"Cour Carrée"
at France Tourism Office

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Cour Carree Buildings and structures in the 1st arrondissement of Paris Louvre Palace Parks and open spaces in Paris Renaissance architecture in France