Paris: monuments (1998)

The entrance to the Louvre when I first went there in 1970 was a small door sort of in the middle of this wing of the complex. It was hard to find. My impression back then (1970) was that the museum was sort of a closely guarded secret. You had to do some work before you were allowed to enter and see the treasures kept inside. This wing is called the Aile Denon and was added on to the older Grande Galerie along the Seine in the 19th century.

These are photos I took in June 1998 with a Kodak digital camera.

Back in 1970, the main courtyard, where the famous and once-controversial pyramid stands now, was actually a parking lot. Until 1989, the French Ministère des Finances occupied space on the north side of the complex. I assume it was the employees of the ministry who could park there. The glass pyramid makes for a much more impressive courtyard.

The Louvre complex was built over many centuries by many different French monarchs. The current Hôtel de Ville (city hall), however, was built between 1874 and 1882, after the older hôtel de ville was burned down during the 1871 Paris Commune insurrection. It's on the Seine just a kilometer east of the Louvre. Paris has had an elected mayor only since 1977 — Jacques Chirac was elected then.

This is the Place des Victoires, not far from the Louvre and the rue Montorgueil neighborhood. The man on the horse is Louis XIV, the Sun King, and the place was named in honor of his military victories. He was king of France for 72 years, from 1643 until 1715, but this statue depicting him on horseback dates back only to 1822. An earlier bronze statue of him was knocked down by revolutionaries in 1792.