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The Louvre Facts & Worksheets

The Louvre, or the Louvre Museum, is the world's largest art museum and historic monument in Paris, France.

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The Louvre, or the Louvre Museum, is the world’s largest art museum and historic monument in Paris, France. A central landmark of the city, it is located on the Right Bank of the Seine in the city’s 1st arrondissement.

See the fact file below for more information on the Louvre or alternatively, you can download our 21-page The Louvre worksheet pack to utilise within the classroom or home environment.

Key Facts & Information

LOUVRE MUSEUM

  • The collection of the Louvre Museum was first established in the sixteenth century as the private collection of King Francis I. One of the works of art he purchased was the famous Mona Lisa painting.
  • The collection grew steadily, thanks to donations and purchases by the kings. In 1793, during the French Revolution, the Louvre became a national art museum and the private royal collection opened to the public.
  • The museum has a collection of over one million works of art, of which about 35,000 are on display, spread out over three wings of the former palace.
  • Some of the most famous works of art in the museum are the Venus of Milo, the Nike of Samothrace, the Dying Slave by Michelangelo and, of course, Leonardo da Vinci’s Mona Lisa.

HISTORY

  • The Louvre was created in several phases. Originally built as a twelfth-century fortress by King Philip II, it was significantly expanded in the fourteenth century during the reign of King Charles V.
  • Its current palatial appearance goes back to the late fifteenth century, when the original fortress was demolished and the wing along the Seine river was built.
  • The palace was extended during the sixteenth century by architect Pierre Lescot, who expanded the palace into a complex with two courtyards.
  • A decade later Catharina de Medici added the Tuileries Palace to the west of the Louvre. Construction on the Louvre was halted for some time when King Louis XIV decided to move to Versailles Palace.
  • In the nineteenth century, during the Second Empire, the Louvre was expanded again with the addition of the Richelieu wing. The wings were extended even further westward during the Third Empire.

SULLY WING

  • The Sully wing is the oldest part of the Louvre. The second floor holds a collection of French paintings, drawings and prints.
  • One of the highlights is the erotic Turkish Bath, painted in the late eighteenth century by Jean-Auguste-Dominique Ingres.
  • The first and ground floors of the Sully wing display works from the enormous collection of antiquities.
  • In the thirty rooms with Egyptian antiquities, you find artifacts and sculptures from Ancient Egypt such as the famous Seated Scribe and a colossal statue of Pharaoh Ramesses II.
  • On the ground floor is the statue of Aphrodite, better known as the ‘Venus of Milo’, one of the highlights of the Louvre’s Greek collection.

RICHELIEU WING

  • Paintings from the Middle Ages up to the nineteenth century from across Europe are on the second floor of the Richelieu wing, including many works from master painters such as Rubens and Rembrandt.
  • Some of the most notable works are the Lacemaker from Jan Vermeer and the Virgin of Chancellor Rolin, a fifteenth-century work by the Flemish painter Jan van Eyck.
  • The first floor of the Richelieu wing houses the collection of decorative arts, with objects such as clocks, furniture, china, and tapestries.
  • On the same floor are the sumptuously decorated Napoleon III Apartments.
  • They will give you an idea of what the Louvre interior looked like when it was still in use as a royal palace.

DENON WING

  • The Denon Wing is the most crowded of the three wings of the Louvre Museum, while the Mona Lisa, a portrait of a woman by Leonardo da Vinci, on the first floor is the biggest crowd puller.
  • There are other masterpieces, however, including the Wedding Feast at Cana from Veronese and the Consecration of Emperor Napoleon I by Jacques Louis David.
  • Another star attraction of the museum is the Winged Victory of Samothrace, a Greek marble statue displayed at a prominent spot in the atrium connecting the Denon wing with the Sully wing.
  • The ground floor of the Denon wing houses the museum’s extensive collection of Roman and Etruscan antiquities as well as a collection of sculptures from the Renaissance to the nineteenth century.
  • Here you find Antonio Canova’s marble statue of Psyche Revived by Cupid’s Kiss. Even more famous is Michelangelo’s Dying Slave.

LOUVRE PYRAMID

  • The most recent addition to the Louvre was the construction of the Louvre Pyramid, which functions as the museum’s main entrance.
  • The pyramid was built in 1989 by the renowned American architect I.M. Pei. The glass pyramid allows the sunlight to enter the underground floor.

The Louvre Worksheets

This is a fantastic bundle which includes everything you need to know about the Louvre across 21 in-depth pages. These are ready-to-use The Louvre worksheets that are perfect for teaching students about the Louvre, or the Louvre Museum, which is the world’s largest art museum and historic monument in Paris, France. A central landmark of the city, it is located on the Right Bank of the Seine in the city’s 1st arrondissement.

Complete List Of Included Worksheets

  • The Louvre in Paris, France Facts
  • Hot Facts
  • Louvre’s Article
  • Vocabulary Review
  • People Behind
  • Travel Guide
  • Design Your Museum
  • Louvre Crossword
  • Acrostic Poem
  • Only in Louvre in Paris
  • Paris Decode

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Use With Any Curriculum

These worksheets have been specifically designed for use with any international curriculum. You can use these worksheets as-is, or edit them using Google Slides to make them more specific to your own student ability levels and curriculum standards.

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