The Louvre Pyramid

The Louvre Pyramid

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The Louvre Pyramid (Pyramide du Louvre) is a large glass and metal pyramid, surrounded by three smaller pyramids, in the main courtyard (Cour Napoléon) of the Louvre Palace (Palais du Louvre) in Paris. The large pyramid serves as the main entrance to the Louvre Museum. Completed in 1989, it has become a landmark of the city of Paris.

TEXT FROM WIKIPEDIA, cba SOME RIGHTS RESERVED.

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Published: 2012-04-04 12:00:00 UTC

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Designed by I.M. Pei

Commissioned by the President of France François Mitterrand in 1984, it was designed by the architect I. M. Pei, who is responsible for the design of the Miho Museum in Japan, and Place Ville-Marie in Montreal, and the National Gallery of Art (East Building) in Washington, D.C. among others. The structure, which was constructed entirely with glass segments, reaches a height of 20.6 metres (about 70 feet); its square base has sides of 35 metres (115 ft).

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Biggest pyramid

The main pyramid is actually the largest of several glass pyramids that were constructed near the museum, including the downward-pointing La Pyramide Inversée that functions as a skylight in an underground mall in front of the museum.

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Glass Segments

It consists of 603 rhombus-shaped and 70 triangular glass segments.

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New Entrance of the Louvre Museum

The pyramid and the underground lobby beneath it were created because of a series of problems with the Louvre's original main entrance, which could no longer handle the enormous number of visitors on an everyday basis. Visitors entering through the pyramid descend into the spacious lobby then re-ascend into the main Louvre buildings.

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View from Inside

Inside the Pyramid: the view of the Louvre Museum in Paris from the underground lobby of the Pyramid.

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Controversy

The construction of the pyramid triggered considerable controversy because many people felt that the futuristic edifice looked quite out of place in front of the Louvre Museum with its classical architecture. Certain detractors ascribed a "Pharaonic complex" to Mitterrand. Others lauded the juxtaposition of contrasting architectural styles as a successful merger of the old and the new, the classical and the ultra-modern.

PHOTO BY Benjamine Scalvenzi, cbdn Some rights reserved

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666, the Number of the Beast

It has been claimed by some that the glass panes in the Louvre Pyramid number exactly 666, "the number of the beast", often associated with Satan. Dominique Stezepfandt's book François Mitterrand, Grand Architecte de l'Univers declares that "the pyramid is dedicated to a power described as the Beast in the Book of Revelation (...) The entire structure is based on the number 6."

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The Pyramid and the Fountains

PHOTO BY Brigitte Djajasasmita, cbdn Some rights reserved

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Sunset Through the Pyramid