Paris, Louvre

Q19675

It is hard to write a review of the Louvre in Paris, because it is one of the world’s largest museums. There are many departments, and each one of them might, in its field, have been a museum of the first order. For example, it is hard to find another Egyptological museum in Europe that equals the Louvre.

The museum also has a reputation for interesting expositions – one on Meroe and one on the archaeology of Saudi Arabia during my latest visit – and to be honest: one ought to visit the Louvre twice a year to keep in touch. The people of Paris are unusually blessed.

If you visit the museum for the first time, you will be surprised by the pyramid-shaped entrance. Use the time you lose to pass the bomb check and buy a ticket to look at it, because it is a monument of the first order.

I already mentioned the Egyptian department, where you can easily spend a full day. There are portraits of the Egyptian kings and objects from daily life, and what is even better: the full history is dealth with, so you will also find objects from the first millennium BCE. The Greek, Roman, and Coptic age are not ignored either, although you need to go to Greek department for the royal portraits of the Ptolemies.

The Egyptian department is deservedly famous, and attracts many visitors, who are usually exhausted when they are half-way their tour. Usually, they will take the shortest route to the exit, which brings them through the departments of Cypriote, Arab, Palmyrene, and Phoenician art – which are, as a consequence, full of people who are not interested in the objects. That is a pity, because these rooms alone justify a trip to Paris. Still, if you manage to ignore the crowd of tired visitors to the Egyptian department, you will certainly enjoy coffins from Sidon, Byblos, and Carthage, Nabataean inscriptions, and statues from Cyprus. One of my favorites is a relief of one of the divine triad of Palmyra. You will need half a day to study it well.

Next to it is the Oriental department. The most famous object is, of course, the Code of Hammurabi. Don’t concentrate on the diorite monolith only, but also look in the small display in the same room, because there you will see cuneiform tablets with the same text – one of them written more than a millennium later and proving that these laws had become some kind of Mesopotamian classic, and it is probably no coincidence that the division of these Old Babylonian laws returns in the Ten Commandments.

The Code of Hammurabi was found in Susa, which is a prominent part of the oriental collection. You will also see a wall decorated with Achaemenid soldiers and cuneiform tablets from this Iranian town. Other important excavations are Mari and Khorsabad, but there is a lot more to see. There are also rooms devoted to Jordan and western Syria; they are not adjacent to the eastern Syria and the other Levantine rooms, which is a bit impractical – but the Mesha stela is worth the detour. You need a full day to study the entire oriental department.

The Roman department is surprisingly small. Yet, there is a lot of fine sculpture, including a nice series of portraits of Roman rulers. Next to it is a comparatively small Etruscan department. A gallery of rather mediocre statues brings you to the room devoted to Roman art that was later restored, which is great fun: usually, you can immediately see which part is ancient and which is an addition. (Here, you will also find Canova’s famous Amor and Psyche.) You need about half a day to see it all, read the explanatory signs, and take your photos.

The Greek department is larger – you again need a full day to study it all. The two most famous pieces are the expressive Nike of Samothrake and the famous Venus of Milo. The latter is more or less the museum’s raison d’être. Napoleon had looted the Italian museums, but after he had found his Waterloo, all those works of art had to be returned. In an age in which it was believed that inspiration by great art created great minds, and that Greek art was the most inspirational, the emptying of the Louvre was believed to be a national disaster, but fortunately, the Venus of Milo was found. Now, France could compete again with the British, who had the Elgin Marbles. That the armless deity was a Hellenistic and not a Classical statue, was ignored – the inscription which proves it, is now conveniently lost.

The Greek department also has some fine temple remains (from a/o Assos), the Tanagra statuettes that I increasingly love, and lots of pottery. Unfortunately, the rooms with Greek ceramics have recently been closed. I haven’t seen the Croesus to the left for quite some time: last time, the room was closed to install better protection; before that, it was on loan to another museum.

The crowds are very large, and you may count yourself lucky that I did not bring you to the paintings. This makes a visit to the Louvre a bit difficult, and you must prepare yourself well; fortunately, the museum’s website is excellent. Four days is the minimum for the ancient departments.

Finally, I must mention one little gem that is often ignored and where you can, consequently, quietly look at the objects: the room with metal objects. There is some fine silver work, but you will also see the helmet of a gladiator, a nice statuette of the Tyche of Antioch, the head of Demetrius Poliorcetes, a hoplite’s panoply, a curse tablet from the Crimea, Roman military diplomas, and so on.

But unfortunately, that’s the only part of the museum where you will not meet many other people. In fact, the museum is too big, and I think that it would be wiser to split it into smaller museums.

This museum was visited in 1984, 1989, 2008, 2010, 2020.

301 pictures related to this museum

Annius Verus	The Tyche of Antioch (figurine)	Bishapur, Palace, Mosaic of a musician	Messalina
Apollonia, Relief of two hoplites	Susa, Stone relief with a banquet scene	Taharqo venerating the falcon-god Hemen	Rome, S. Pietro, Sarcophagus with Christ as Lawgiver
Osorkon I	Ptolemy IV Philopator	Girsu, Tablet with a fragment of the Sumerian Creation Epic	Sippar, Contract from the reign of Xerxes about a canal
Ugarit, Temple of Baal, Stele with the king of Ugarit in front of the god Baal Saphon	Rhodes, Mycenaean cup (LH IIIa2)	Lagash, Vulture Stele, Sumerian phalanx	Sphinx of king Siamun
Cyrene, Statue of Antinous	Keki, the courtier	Cyprus, Bilingual Greek-Phoenician inscription	Fragment of the sarcophagus of Sety II
Sallustia Orbiana	Salonina	King of the Eleventh/Twelfth Dynasty	Alexander IV
Ptolemy I Soter	Susa, Rim of a cup with the name of Xerxes	Cleopatra II or III as Isis	Choga Zanbil, Ziggurat, Doorknobs (Paris)
Antonia Minor	Bawit, Icon of Christ and St.Menas	Byblos, Temple of Baalat, Figurines	Tyre, Hellenistic building inscription from Al-Ma'shook
Susa, Middle-Elamite model of a sun ritual	Hadrumetum, Sanctuary of Baal Hammon, Punic stela	Cartouche of Osorkon I	Bosra, Nabataean altar
Yemen, Woman's head	Aegis of Osorkon IV	Bowl from Tepe Hesar I	Kition, Figurine of a woman
Ptolemy XI Alexander, gold sealing ring	Informal portrait of Sobekhotep IV	Marib, Dedication to Almaqah	Susa, Apadana, Inscription DSf (Elamite)
Edessa, Mosaic of a lady	Sarcophagus with the body of Hector	Achaemenid jar with representation of Bes	Susa, Soldiers' Relief with inscription DSm
Coptic tunic	Cherchell, Inscription of Micipsa	Susa, Soldiers' Relief	Bawit, Coptic church, Model
Assos, Temple of Athena, Relief of two bulls	Susa, Soldiers' Relief	Drawing of Amenhotep I	Megara, Figurine of two hoplites
Julia Mamaea	Antiochus VI Dionysus	Susa, Soldiers' Relief	Persian nobleman; statue from Egypt
Mithridates VI Eupator of Pontus	Pittacus	Antioch, Judgment of Paris	Tayma, Dedication to Salm
Susa, Apadana, Capital	Olympia, Temple of Zeus, Model	Khorsabad, Relief of Sargon and Sennacherib	Horus, Osiris, Isis
King Djedefra	Portrait of a Roman man (CE 070-100)	Yemen, Dromedary pendant	Susa, The Awan King List
Relief of a Roman officer	Nineveh, Palace of Aššurbanipal, Relief of Arbela	Madaba, Funeral inscription of Itaybel	Baalbek, Mosaic of the Birth of Paris
Smyrna, Diadumenianus	Pupienus	Relief of a scribe	Amasis
Wadi Miyah, Palmyrene triad: Aglibol (Moon), Ba'al Šamem (Lord of Heaven), and Malekbel (Sun)	Smyrna, Honorific decree for an officer of VI Ferrata	Beirut, Tombstone of Valerius Rufus of VII Claudia	Psammetichus I
Bishapur, Palace, Mosaic of man dressed as an ostrich	Boy with hoop and rooster	Athens, Black-figured dish with a Scythian archer	Saba, the Arab warrior Mushayqat Hamayat ibn Yusuf on a dromedary
Susa, Treaty between Naram-Sin and Elam	Saqqara, Serapeum, Relief of Isis and Nectanebo II	Utica, Oil lamp with a lion and a crocodile	Antinoopolis, Coptic textile, Praying man with candelaber and ankh
Susa, Middle-Elamite basrelief of warrior gods	Susa, Weight from Didyma	Hadrumetum, Sanctuary of Baal Hammon, Punic stela with three baetyls	Figurine of an Etruscan warrior
Old Paphos, Epitaph of King Echetimus	Susa, Apadana, Inscription DSf (Babylonian)	Bottle from Tepe Hesar level II	Nectanebo I, wearing the crown of Upper Egypt
Susa, Soldiers' Relief	Furnos Minus, Christian funerary mosaic	Khorsabad, Lamassu	Khorsabad, Iron tool
Nicomedia, Hellenistic Funerary relief	Caere, Sarcophagus of the Spouses	Khorsabad, Relief of Sargon and Sennacherib, prince Sennacherib	Seleucus I Nicator
Ptolemy III Euergetes	Susa, Soldiers' Relief, Sphinxes	Susa, Temple of the Šutrukids, Inscription	Ptolemy XII Auletes
Byblos, Relief of a lion	The Azara herm	Aššur, Annals of Tikulti-Ninurta II	Sippar, Victory stela of Naram-Sin
Lambaesis, Rules for the trumpetters of III Augusta	Alexander, Statuette from Lower Egypt	Sobekhotep IV	Arsinoe III
Yemen, Relief of a bird eating grapes	Mask of a Sumerian	Susa, Temple of the Šutrukids, Relief	Susa, Soldiers' Relief with inscription
Valerian Jr	Agrippa Postumus	Moabite warrior god	Byzantine, Dromedary-shaped lamp
Dibon, Mesha Stela	Ladjvard, Sasanian king, perhaps Peroz	Fausta	Idalion, orientalizing gold dish
Oea, Punic sphinx	Susa, Battle axe	Portrait of a man, third quarter of the first century CE (the so-called "Vitellius")	Upper part of the Codex of Hammurabi; taken from Babylon to Susa, it was excavated in what is now Iran.
Babylonian map of the western Zagros. A road, a mountain, and a river are indicated.	Justinian I (Barberini Ivory)	Vase painting of an archaic Greek galley	Leo I
Nineveh, Palace of Aššurbanipal, Sumerian-Akkadian Dictionary	Statuette of Raherka, inspector of the scribes, and his wife Merseanch	POWs being led away on an Akkadian victory stele	Nefertiti and Akhenaten
Susa, Inscription of Nicocles	Thelsae, Nabataean altar	Khorsabad, Foundation Tablet	Rhodes, Head-shaped aryballos
Utica, Oil lamp with a lion and a panther	Tayma, Nabataean votive stela	Tayma, Relief of a sacrifical meal; Assyrian influence	Didia Clara
Socrates	Amulet of Darius	Rhodes, Mycenaean jar with a bull (LH IIIa2)	Charlemagne
Susa, Soldiers' Relief	Ostracon with a Coptic Writing Exercise (Thebaid)	Susa, Temple of the Šutrukids, Relief: the bull-man	Beirut, Christian phylacterium, invoking the protection of several celestial beings to protect one Alexandra
Domitian	Matidia	Arsinoe II	Corinth, Hoplite battle (Tydeus painter)
Statues of Sekhmet	Ptolemy II Philadelphus	Demetrius I Poliorcetes	Susa, Temple of the Šutrukids, Relief
Athens, Heliaia, Allotment plate	Susa, Soldiers' Relief	Titus	Timna, Dedication by Rathad'il
Rhodes, Dish with a sphinx	Susa, Stone fish	Alexandria Troas, Psyche on a dromedary	Bawit, Portrait of a lady
Alexandria, Tombstone of Longinus of II Traiana	Drawing of Ramesses VII	Susa, Soldiers' Relief, Flowers	Byblos, Temple of Baalat, Figurine of a bull
Kition, Egyptianizing capital	Tayma, Taymanite inscription	Agrippa	Susa, Silver rhyton
Uruk, Cuneiform tablet with first use of a zero	Ramesses IV	Dedication by Ilîmagud Mayfa	Ugarit, Stele of the "smiting god"
Khorsabad, Lion-taming spirit ("Gilgameš")	Antiochus III the Great	Artemis and Apollo killing the Niobids	Assos, Temple of Athena, relief, Triton
Thyatira, Relief of a gladiator (thraex)	Utica, Funeral stela	The Azara herm	Corinth, Small painting of Poseidon
Eshnunna, Relief of Ištar	Coptic jar with decoration of a woman with wild animals	Susa, Soldiers' Relief, Lion	Greek plate with a picture of the Chimaera. Louvre, Paris (France)
Susa, Temple of the Šutrukids, Goddess	Hermopolis, Portrait of a Cleopatra I, Cleopatra II, or Berenice III	The Azara herm	Khorsabad, Relief of rafts on a great river
Senusret III	Geta	Susa, Gold plate with royal warrior	Giza, Diner of Nefer
Rhagae, Dancers on a piece of pottery	Apollonia, Relief to commemorate the battle of Actium	Demetrius Poliorcetes	Suovetaurilia
Nimrud, Northwest Palace of Aššurnasirpal II, Foundation Inscription	The Azara herm	Smyrna, Attalus II Philadelphus	Alexander I Balas
Pyla, Temple of Apollo, Portrait of a man	Figurine from Bactria	Esarhaddon and his mother attend the restoration of Babylon	The Albani Alexander
Susa, Hellenistic or Parthian figurine of a harpist	Susa, Sasanian cup	Tepe Sialk, Sherd from the fourth millennium BCE	Palmyra, Tombstone of a priest
Ptolemy X Alexander	Caere, Banditaccia necropolis, Wall painting of an archer	Susa, Statue of queen Napirasu, wife of Untaš-Napiriša	Chalouf, Darius' DZb inscription
Enkomi, Late Bronze pectoral with sphinxes	Choga Zanbil, Model	The Azara herm	Delos, Portrait of Alexander the Great
Tombstone of Iglum, son of Sa'adillat	Susa, Funerary portrait	Heraclius and Khusrau	Susa, Soldiers' Relief
Susa, Stela of Adda-hamiti-Inšušinak	Ptolemy IV Philopator or Ptolemy VI Philometor	Ugarit, Alphabet tablet	Soknopaiou Nesos, Stele of Isis, Horus, and Cleopatra VII Philopator
Ajax and Cassandra.	Herodes Atticus	Nectanebo I wearing the war crown	Tayma, Aramaic funerary inscription
Susa, Letter from Artabanus II, requesting the appointment of one Hecataeus as treasurer	Egypt, Byzantine textile, Erotes picking grapes	Fayyum, Coptic chalice	Sardes, Temple of Artemis, Relief of the "Mistress of the animals". (The archer partly visible to the right must be Heracles.)
Apries	Susa, Soldiers' Relief	Assos, Temple of Athena, Relief of a symposium	An Egyptian poem about the battle of Kadesh
Montuhotep II wearing the red deshret crown	Statuette of a hippopotamus	Alexandria, Alexander the Great as City Founder	Berenice II
Pharsalus, Funerary stela with a relief of a flower offering	Bishapur, Palace, Mosaic of a Dionysiac head	Susa, Relief with the sacrifice of goat	Mithridates V Euergetes
Susa, Apadana, Inscription DSf (Old Persian)	Ur, Foundation statuette of Amar-Sin	Khorsabad, Relief of two courtiers	Susa, Soldiers' Relief, Mythological creatures
Susa, Soldiers' Relief, Immortal, Counterweight of a spear	Cirta, Sanctuary of El-Hofra, Votive stela	Sobekhotep IV	Statuette of a Libyan
Theodosius II	Pompey the Great. Louvre, Paris (France)	Corbulo	Livia (Paris)
Nimrud, Relief of an Anatolian fort	Susa, Soldiers' Relief	Achmim, Funerary stela of Pamim	Susa, Achaemenid administrative document
Merenptah	Tepe Sialk, Pot from the fourth millennium BCE, decorated with an ibex	Khorsabad, Relief of Sargon and Sennacherib, king Sargon	Head of Croesus on a Greek vase
Susa, Neo-Elamite decoration (dragon)	Bishapur, Palace, Stucco apse	Antinoopolis, Coptic textile, Nilotic scene (including nilometer)	Lascuta, Imperator inscription
Aelius Caesar	Statuette of Bes, dedicated by Pakher, chancellor of king Psamtek I	Sippar, Cylinder with a building inscription from the reign of Hammurabi	Senusret III
Cleopatra VII Philopator in Egyptian style	Susa, Soldiers' Relief, Lion	Gortyn, Inscription with laws	Eretria, Two-headed phial
Susa, Stela of Šutruru	Faustina II	Crassus	Shabaqo
Idalion, statue of Melqart	Susa, Dedication to Inšušinak	Marib, Dedication to Almaqah, detail	Gladiator helmet
Julia Domna