Museums of Paris

One of the most significant art treasuries of the world, Paris can boast the best art museums. Some of them have long, glorious history, others are relatively new, but all of them are worth only supreme marks.
Louvre, Orsay, Musee Rodin – these names have become symbols of high art, both classic and modern.
When the matter concerns the most famous museum in Paris, there is no doubt that we talk about Louvre. Louvre wasn’t built specially for housing a museum. At first, it was Royal Palace and fortress, dating back to the end of XII century. Each of the French kings changes something in this palace – during the centuries Louvre grew and were being developed. In 1682, when the Royal Court moved to Versailles, difficult times began for Louvre.
After the French Revolution, Napoleon decided to continue the construction and restoration works in Louvre. In 1793 Louvre became a museums. Then it housed exponents collected by Francis I, Louis XIII and Louis XIV. Napoleon enriched this collection a lot. Every nation defended by Napoleon, should have rendered tribute in the form of art masterpieces. Nowadays the museum counts about 400 000 items.
In 1981 Francois Mitterrand began restoration of Louvre. The most ancient parts of the museum were restored and the famous Pyramid connecting new buildings and Palace was built.
Louvre has several art galleries or departments – Near Eastern Antiquities; Egyptian Antiquities; Greek, Etruscan, and Roman Antiquities; Islamic Art; Sculptures; Decorative Arts; Paintings; Prints and Drawings.
All the objects of art in Louvre are very precious, but the most notorious one is Mona Lisa by Leonardo da Vinci. This canvas gave birth to numerous legends and mysteries. We still don’t know was it real woman or imaginative and what does her enigmatic smile means.
Musee d'Orsay is housed in the building of the former Orsay railway station. The building was fully reconstructed and in 1986 a museum was opened here. Permanent exposition covers the period from 1848 till 1914.
Musee Rodin houses the building where great French sculptor Rodin lived from 1908. At first this mansion was divided into several studios and in 1911 the house was bought by the French government. The museum was opened in 1919. The exposition is devoted to the sculptural works of Rodin and the paintings fro his private collection – by Van Gogh, Renoir and some others.
The list of Paris museums is much wider than this, but even you visit only these three – you will see the brightest art masterpieces.

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