29 March: The Louvre

On this date in 1989, I M Pei's pyramidal entrance to the Louvre opened in Paris. Here are a few things you might not know about Paris's art gallery.

1. The pyramid is about 20 metres high and covers an area of 1,225 square metres. It is made from metal and glass - nearly 700 panes, to be exact. It is one of Paris's best known landmarks, but there was controversy about it in its early days, since I.M. Pei was the first non-French architect to work on the Louvre. There are actually four pyramids in the courtyard - this one, and three smaller ones.
2. The Louvre wasn't always a museum. It was first built as a fortress in the 12th century by Philip II, the first official king of France. Its purpose was to keep the Vikings out. Part of that original building still survives and can be seen in the Lower Hall.
3. Later it was rebuilt and became a royal palace, until the royals moved out to Versailles. It has also been used as a prison and as an office for the finance ministry. It became a museum in 1793, at which time it housed just 537 paintings.
4. Now it is the largest museum in the world, covering 652,300 square feet – nearly 15 acres. It has 380,000 pieces now, not all on display. There are enough items on display that if you visited, and spent 30 seconds looking at each thing, it would take you 100 days, without a break.
5. About 9 million people visit the Louvre each year.
6. The Mona Lisa is probably the most famous item on display there. You can also see the Venus de Milo and Liberty Leading the People by Eugene Delacroix. The man wearing a Top Hat on the left of this painting is Delacroix himself.
7. During World War II, as the German army marched towards Paris, museum staff loaded most of the art into a convoy of trucks and shipped it to the country to be hidden in private châteaus. When the German occupiers demanded that the museum be re-opened, there was virtually nothing there save a few sculptures that were too heavy to move. The Germans found another use for the place - for storing all the art they stole from wealthy French Jewish families before they shipped it to Germany.
8. Napoleon once renamed the Louvre to Musée Napoleon and expanded its collection by 5,000 pieces. The pieces were, however, returned to the original owners when he was defeated.
9. The Louvre lines up with the middle of Arc de Triomphe, the Grand Arche of La Defense and the obelisk of the Place de la Concorde. This alignment is known as Axe historique.
10. It's haunted by a mummy called Belphegor, and the Tuileries Gardens next door are haunted by a man dressed in Red.

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