Modern meets Royal You enter through a transparent pyramid of glass and descend into a catalogue of riches from the past three thousand years. The palace, originally a fortress under Philip II, became a museum in 1793 in the aftermath of the French revolution; an egalitarian statement to the French people. The building has been of importance under every ruler since its founding in the late twelfth century - Napoleon even renamed it the Musée Napoleon and hung the Mona Lisa in his bedroom. It’s a big place The Louvre comprises three wings — the Richelieu, the Sully, and the Denon — arranged in a horseshoe, with the Pyramid, designed by the venerable Chinese-American architect I. M. Pei, situated in the middle. To see everything, you’d have to spend one hundred days in the museum, moving from exhibit to exhibit every thirty seconds... so we hope you’ll agree a tour guide might be useful to see only the best artworks and artefacts. The Louvre’s raison d’être is largely to present French and Italian art from the Middle Ages up to about 1850, as well as artefacts from other civilisations that contextualise the beginnings of Western art. Islamic art, Egyptian antiquities, Etruscan and Greek artefacts - it’s all here.

Lost and foundThe fame of the Mona Lisa only really began in the late 1860s. Critics, reexamining the past, acclaimed Da Vinci’s work to be a masterpiece of the Renaissance and its fame naturally grew. Then, in 1911, it was stolen from its place in the Louvre and became a sensation overnight. The Louvre remained closed all week whilst the investigation continued to no avail: the painting remained lost for the next two years. During this time, it became legendary. Huge numbers of fakes sprung up in the US and Europe. Eventually its Italian thief, Peruggia, was caught whilst trying to sell it to a gallerist in Florence. He was a patriot who believed it should be on display in its creator’s homeland, not France. SmileIn 2012, John Lichfield, writing in the Independent, described it as ‘the best known, the most visited, the most written about, the most sung about, the most parodied work of art in the world.’ It depicts a simple scene; the subject, Lisa Gherardini, sits with her hands crossed in her lap. The fascination stems from the complex expression caught on her face, which invites the audience into silent conversation with the subject. It’s difficult to leave her gaze, or decide whether or not a hint of a smile adorns her lips.Another point of surprise is its size. The Mona Lisa only 77 by 53 centimetres, which makes it difficult to get a good view in a crowded room.

Shrouded in mysteryThe Venus de Milo was donated to the Louvre by Louis XVIII in 1821 and is believed to depict the Greek goddess Aphrodite in her half nakedness and sensual curves. She stands with a peaceful, reserved look on her face, a drape carelessly hanging from her waist, completely shrouded in mystery.Discovered by a peasant on the Greek island of Milos in the southern Cyclades, she is made of six or seven carefully conjoined blocks of marble. The fascination lies in the statue’s exceptional preservation (she dates from 130 BC), but also in that both arms are missing, leading to widespread speculation about what gesture the goddess might have been making. What remains is an anonymous attitude, with one leg positioned in front of the other, body tilted, the stumps of the arms clearly indicating some kind of action taking place. Classical and Hellenistic stylesThe goddess has an air of aloofness. Written on her face is an expression of harmony and passivity which are the aesthetics of the 5th century BC, and the hairstyle and delicate facial features echo the 4th. Most strikingly, however, the spiral composition, her positioning in three-dimensional space and the small-breasted, elongated body are characteristic of the 3rd to 1st century BC, meaning the statue spans over five hundred years of stylistic change.

Powerful imagery This iconic sculpture is widely admired as one of the finest, if not the finest, demonstration of Hellenistic style, skill, workmanship and vision.Dated five years either side of 195 BC, it was created to honour the god Nike and remember the sea battle at Samothrace. The headless, winged goddess stands aloft on a plinth shaped like the bow of a ship - shapes combine to give the sense of effortless forwards motion, as if she is descending from the heavens. In the minds of the audience she is braced against the strong wind blowing through her garments. With her right hand cupped around her mouth, she announces the event she was dedicated to commemorate - the victory of the sea battle at Samothrace. Technical victoryLike the Venus de Milo, also found in the Louvre, a spiralling effect achieved by the oblique angles of the wings and the placement of the left leg causes the composition to open out in various directions, further emphasised by the clothing blowing between the goddess's legs. Amazingly, on the torso and upper body, the sculptor has managed to illustrate the transparency of wet clothes in the opaque medium of marble. The naked body is visible beneath, adding life to the victorious scene. The tunic is at once brushing against her body and billowing in the wind.

A painting completed in 1807 by Jacques-Louis David, the official painter of Napoleon, depicting the coronation of Napoleon I at Notre-Dame de Paris.

Is a painting by Eugène Delacroix commemorating the July Revolution of 1830, which toppled King Charles X of France.

Counted as one of the world’s largest such collections, it includes more than 50,000 pieces that give a detailed overview of Egyptian life and customs from the earliest days of Ancient Egypt.