Courtyard of the Louvre

This is a photograph of the Louvre Museum in Paris, taken from a position right next to the Arc de Triomphe du Carrousel, which is right between the western extremities of the museum’s two main wings.

In this picture, you can see the Pyramide and the main entrance to the Louvre at its base. Surrounding the Pyramide are the different wings of the Louvre; the wing on the left is the newer Richelieu wing, dedicated primarily to sculpture, and opened in 1993 after the Ministry of Finance moved out. Over the past few years, the entire palace has been thorougly cleaned and restored, eliminating the soot and dirt that disguised the attractiveness of the palace a few years ago. As you can see, it looks like the effort was worth it.

There is a street passing between the camera and the palace. The greenish line of foliage near the center of the photograph is a circular median around which traffic flows; within that median, a glass roof allows sunlight down into the inverted pyramid in the subterranean shopping center that adjoins the Louvre (not visible here, but actually beneath the camera and in front of it, underground).

The palace actually continues off to the left and right, but it is impossible to squeeze it all into a normal photograph. I have a nighttime photograph taken from the same spot, if you are interested.

You are looking east in the photograph. Behind the camera and somewhat to the left is the axis of the Tuileries Gardens and the Champs-Élysées.

Click directly on the photo to see a larger version (twice this size). Photographed on August 1, 1998.