1204, during the Crusade, Philip II built a castle leading to the Seine River to defend the Paris area on the north bank, which was mainly used to store royal archives and treasures, as well as his dogs and prisoners of war. At that time, it was called the Louvre. During the period of Charles V, the Louvre was used as a palace, which made it a completely different building.
In the next 350 years, with the increasing demands of the royal family for pleasure, they constantly added gorgeous towers and unique rooms. However, during the whole 150 years, there was no king living in the Louvre.
1980, French President Mitterrand invited I.M. Pei to rebuild the Louvre. I.M. Pei thinks that the designed East Pavilion is only 40 years away from it, but the Louvre has a history of 800 years. The design of the glass pyramid in Louvre is a great challenge for I.M. Pei.
1983, the Louvre has seven parts, each of which is independent. Because of the competition between space and capital, the curators of various departments don't even communicate with each other. Therefore, in the process of reconstruction, I.M. Pei's architectural team worked hard to unify the seven parts into one building.
I wonder if President Mitterrand is aware of the seriousness of this challenge. But I.M. Pei's team finally unified them in architecture.
Extended data
The Louvre has trained many world-famous artists. Of course, more ordinary tourists regard this place as a temple to watch the world's fine arts. It covers an area of three hectares and has a collection of more than 400,000 works of art, including the paintings and sculptures of the Renaissance collected by French King Francis I in the 6th century, and the artistic treasures plundered from all over the world by Napoleon I during his expedition to the East and the West.
Such as the sculpture code of hammurabi, which records the civilization of the two river basins, and the sculpture Carney, the goddess of victory in ancient Greece, etc. Besides famous French paintings, there are also masterpieces by Italian, Dutch and Spanish artists, such as Mona Lisa by Leonardo da Vinci, Madonna in the Garden by Raphael and Slave by Michelangelo.
The Louvre Museum is divided into six parts: ancient Egypt, ancient Greece, Rome and ancient East. Some famous painting schools and painters set up special studios to display their works. During World War II, before Nazi Germany invaded Paris, France, many masterpieces of the Louvre were scattered all over France. Hitler fascists tried to take them away many times, but in the end they found nothing.
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