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

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