Louvre Museum

The controversial glass pyramid located in the Napoléon courtyard rapidly became symbolic of the museum. The 13th century Philippe Auguste fort that surrounds the museum was reorganized until becoming the royal residence for several centuries. It wasn’t until 1793 that it became the Central Museum of Arts, France’s first national museum. Year after year the museum’s collections grew larger, thereby taking up more and more place at the palace.

Today, the immensity of the Louvre is mind-boggling: it has been estimated that nine months are needed to see each and every work of art on display. The Louvre is indeed one of the world’s biggest museum; its exhibition surface area of 18 acres displays 38,000 works of art out of the 460,000 that the museum possesses within its walls.

These exceptionally rich works of art are spread out in 8 main galleries: Oriental Antiquities, Egyptian Antiquities, Greek, Etruscan and Roman Antiquities, Islamic Arts, Decorative Arts, Sculptures, Paintings, and Graphic Art.

If you really want to check out the Louvre’s must-see works of art, here’s a list of the most visited ones: the Mona Lisa, Venus de Milo and Winged Victory of Samothrace. Some of the most famous works of art are also the Seated Scribe, the Code of Hammurabi, the head of a matriarchal statues “idol with crossed arms,” the Regent diamond and the incredible Egyptian Art collection.