Paris’s Musée du Louvre is one of the most famous museums in the world, and has rightly earned its shining reputation. From the expertly chiseled Venus de Milo and Winged Victory at Samothrace sculptures to exquisite paintings by masters like Vermeer and Caravaggio, the Louvre houses some of the most important works in all of art history. But there’s plenty that you probably don’t know about this institution—and we’re not just talking about those anecdotes you picked up in the Da Vinci Code. (And, no: I.M. Pei’s glass pyramid does not have 666 glass panels; it has 673.)
We tapped a few trusted local guides, including Marcel Widjaja, a tour guide with GetYourGuide Originals, and Daisy de Plume, founder of THATMuse, a museum tour operator, to clue us in to the museum’s many secrets, from the history of the building itself, to the artworks that hang within it. Here are 13 things you didn’t know about the Louvre.
