The Musée du Louvre is not just the world’s largest art museum, but it is also among the most-visited and popular ones. Over 10.2 million individuals from the world over visited it last year. This visitor count is expected to be more than that in 2019. Part of that expectation is down to the fact that this year, the Louvre Museum is hosting the Leonardo Vinci show.

It can be quite a challenge to just see the best works if you do not plan before taking any Paris muse private tours. This applies to the Musée du Louvre trip as well.

What is the Reason for the Louvre Museum’s Popularity?

It is beyond just a museum of art – it was a medieval citadel, then a royal residence before the French monarchy shifted to Versailles. After the decade-long French Revolution, it was converted into a national museum with 537 artworks on display.

Despite shutting down and reopening many times, it steadily amassed an artwork collection, which includes works from prehistoric times and modern-day. It is most popular for the glass pyramid designed by Ieoh Ming Pei, the Mona Lisa painted by Leonardo da Vinci, but it is an easily recognizable French landmark.

What Does It Display Other than Mona Lisa?

This da Vinci painting is so coveted by people that some even thinks that the reason for the overcrowding here is the work itself. There is some nuance to that argument, especially considering that many peer into the Mona Lisa gallery just to take snaps of it. However, it is also worth noting that the Louvre houses many other great works of art. Some of these masterful pieces are listed below.

• The ‘The Nike of Samothrace’ statue.
• The ‘Venus de Milo’ statue, which alongside Mona Lisa, is among the most-photographed and most-frequented piece of art here.
• The ‘Liberty Leading the People’ painting by Eugene Delacroix, commemorating the 1830 Revolution.
• The ‘The Coronation of Napoleon’ painting by Jacques-Louis David.

The museum is known for the European paintings and sculptures it holds inside. However, it is also home to a great collection of Near Eastern and Egyptian antiquities as well as Islamic art. In the museum’s Richelieu wing, one can get a glimpse of the former French royals’ life by exploring Napoleon III’s apartments. There is so much more to see at this national museum; words cannot describe what the experience of visiting it is like.

When Is It Best to Visit to Beat the Crowd?

This art museum is often much more crowded in the summer season when children are on holiday, and less crowded in the winter except the Christmas period. There is often a throng of people on Monday and weekends here. There is a reason for the Monday-crowd here; that is because several other Paris-owned museums close on that day, while the Louvre remains open. Instead of Monday, it closes on Tuesdays.

Your best option is often to visit in the early afternoon, on a Wednesday or when the Louvre remains open until 09:45 pm. When the queue at the pyramid-area entrance is long, then try the one accessible through its underground shopping center.

Should I Reserve Tickets Online for a Louvre Museum Visit?

There are pros and a relative con to buying tickets on a website before you make the trip. The good part is that with an online ticket, you can enter it inside 30 minutes however long the security queue is. If you buy it beforehand, you will not need to wait in a different queue inside the museum for a ticket. Conversely, you will need to pay more for an online ticket than what at the entrance-area counter. That is a disadvantage only in comparison to the price you will pay for an offline ticket. To tell you the truth, it is just a small additional price to pay for a quicker access to the museum.

Are There Free Admission Hours or Discounts?

Payment for admission ticket is not required on every single month’s first Saturday from 06:00 pm to 09:45 pm, plus on July 14 each year. In other times, anybody aged below 18 years, as well as every European Economic Area resident aged between 18 and 25 years, can enter the Louvre for free. On all Fridays from 06:00 to 09:45 pm, the admission is free of cost for those aged below 26 years from any nation.

How Does One Get Here?

You can certainly take a taxi for this, but there is no cheaper option to reach the Louvre Museum station than traveling in the Paris Metro. Line 1 and Line 7 will stop at that station. From there, just leave aboveground or go directly to this museum’s underground entry through the aforementioned shopping mall. What’s more, many buses stop adjacent to the museum entrance.