We are lucky enough to live about ten minutes away from The Louvre and that's where our friend A, Brian and I spent our Saturday. There are several hundred pictures on Facebook, if you'd like to take a look. We only made it into two of the wings and I'd love to return.
I didn't know this, but the museum is actually inside the palace and it is enormous!! To be honest, I spent an equal amount of time gazing up at the fresco on the ceilings as I did the actual art. There are multiple stories and levels and it spans several city blocks. I loved the grand marble staircases, sweeping courtyards, and the incredible mouldings. It was humbling, actually, to stand in these magnificent rooms and imagine how it looked when the King held court. We shared some wine on one balcony and sat in awe of where we were.
We saw the Mona Lisa and there was a crowd of perhaps seventy people, all trying to get pictures. There was a velvet rope that separated the crowd from where she was encased in glass and four bored looking guards stood next to her. A and I commented that the crowd was made of all nationalities, and marvelled at how popular she was. (I do understand the mathematical beauty, etc.)
There was a similar flurry of activity at the Venus de Milo, but my favorite parts were in a different part of the museum.
First, they've taken the time to restore the Kings apartments as authentically as possible. Coming from my last job, I eagerly pointed out different clever furniture pieces and my companions would listen politely. There was so much gold in each room, from gilding on the furniture to the walls and ceilings, to the fabrics and candelabras. Brian was surprised about how small the King's bed was, perhaps a modern full size, though not as long. The dining area was vast, and we counted 48 chairs at the long formal table. We joked about how our last apartment could have fit at least six times in the grand salon, his private entertaining room. Among the settees, numerous bistro style tables were scattered, with a few chairs at each one. It was truly beautiful and so impressive.
The Louvre has the second largest collection of Egyptian antiquities in the world and that may have been my absolute favorite part. It was so large and spanned several different floors and wings that we didn't get to see everything, but what we did see took my breath away. They had an entire TOMB that you could walk through, with the hieroglyphics etched in the walls. Some of the colors were still vibrant and it was amazing. There were also complete stone walls and columns, a room of ten foot stone sphinxes and Osiris' tomb. There was a collection of sarcophagus and intricately wrapped mummies. There were rooms of jewelry and sacred amulets. One of the coolest parts, to me anyway, was that they had a Book of The Dead, laid out and covered in glass on a wall. It spanned 19 meters and was delicate and Brian took a neat picture of Osiris weighing a heart down in the Underworld. It was spooky and fascinating.
This was a fantastic day that I will remember for the rest of my life.
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