Louvre opened as museum - August 10, 1793

On this day in 1793, the Louvre opened to the public as a museum. 

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
This Day in History Class is a production of I
Heart Radio. Welcome Back to This Day in History Class,
where we reveal a new piece of history every day.
Today is August nineteen. The day was August the French

(00:28):
Revolutionary government opened the Louver as a public museum. In
the twelfth century, King Philip the Second was getting ready
to leave France for the Crusades, a series of religious
wars in the medieval period. The king decided to build
a fortress to protect Paris. Extra protection was needed at

(00:49):
a weak spot in the fortification near the River Sin,
so the Louver was added. The castle had a moat
and circular defensive towers. At this point, the Louver was
at the outer limits of the city, but over time
people moved near the fort in an urban district came

(01:09):
to surround it. But by the early fifteen hundreds, King
Francois the First had declared that the capital would be
his main residence, and he decided to have it rebuilt.
Work began on the chateau during the reign of France
while the first when a small part of the present
Louver was constructed under architect Pierre Lescou. Construction continued into

(01:32):
the reign of Unre the second and Charles the ninth,
and wings and free standing buildings were added. Almost all
the French monarchs that followed extended the Louver and its grounds.
Louis and Louis the fourteenth specifically made major changes to
the building complex. The two kings and their ministers acquired

(01:54):
a lot of works of art. In sixteen eighty two,
King Louis the four teenth moved his court to Versailles,
and the Louver was no longer a royal residence. The
Louver did, though, become home to art academies that displayed
their work. In the eighteenth century, people began voicing their
desire for a display of the royal art collections. The

(02:18):
Louver was proposed as a place for a public museum,
but it took until after the French Revolution broke out
in seventeen eighty nine for a permanent museum to actually
be established. The Musa Central a Day Art, as it
was called, then open to the public on August tenth,
sevente in the grand gallery of the Louver, five and

(02:42):
thirty seven paintings were on display, So we're one hundred
and twenty four marble and bronze sculptures, precious marbles, porcelain works, clocks,
and other pieces. Many of the works had been confiscated
from the royal family and French nobility. The Louver closed
about three years after it opened because of issues with

(03:04):
the building, but Napoleon later reopened the museum. He even
renamed it the Mousai. Napoleon his Grand Army stole art
and cultural artifacts as they crossed the European continent in
the Revolutionary and Napoleonic Wars, and the Louver's collection grew quickly.

(03:25):
Thousands of artworks were returned to their owners after Napoleon's fall,
but many stolen artworks remain in the Egyptian collection and
other departments. Construction of the Cores care and a wing
on the north along the Rue de Rivoli began under Napoleon.
Two wings were added in the eighteen hundreds, and the

(03:47):
Louver complex was completed under the reign of Napoleon the Third.
During the Nazi occupation of Paris in World War Two,
the Nazis looted thousands of works of art from France.
The Louver became a clearing center for the art the
Germans looted from conquered territories and from the collections of

(04:07):
Jewish people and others that the Nazis terrorized. Though many
works were returned to their owners, the Louver still has
arts that win by Nazis in its possession. In the
nineteen eighties and nineteen nineties, the Louver was remodeled. Architect
i Am Pay designed the underground lobby and the famous

(04:29):
steel and glass pyramid in the museum's courtyard. The Louver
also has satellite locations in Lawns, France and Abu Dhabi.
I'm Eve Jeffcote and hopefully you know a little more
about history today than you did yesterday. If there are
any upcoming days in history that you'd really like me

(04:50):
to cover on the show, give us a shout on
social media at t D I h D podcast. Thank
you for joining me today. Yah see you same place,
same time tomorrow. For more podcasts from my Heart Radio,

(05:11):
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