Louvre

Our final splurge in Paris was to arrange a private tour of the Louvre museum with a guide from AirBNB Experiences. It was our first time using AirBnB Experience and we really enjoyed it. Cecilia specializes in tours for families and it was nice not to have to corral the children along with a larger group geared towards adults.


We started underneath the Louvre exploring the foundations of the original fortress. Even the adults hadn’t explored this part of the museum and it was fascinating to learn there had been a fortress built in 1180 to protect the Parisii from the Vikings who may have sailed up the Seine. We particularly enjoyed an artist's digital rendering of what the original fortress may have looked like. So castle-like!

We walked along where the moat would have been and examined the marks the stonemasons carved to get paid for the number of blocks they shaped. Interestingly, there was a heart shape, and according to Wikipedia, the first use of this shape to mean the heart in the body was made just around this time, so it was more likely an upside down spade shape. In the 1300’s, Charles V “the Wise” rebuilt the fortress in a less castle-like way (see image below for an artists rendition of the fortress). The foundation of the fortress wasn’t found again until the 1880’s.

The Champs Elysee was completed in 1670 and after the French Revolution, when Napoleon rose to
power, he added the arcs at either end. The Arc de Triomphe was fashioned to be Roman-style as a message Napoleon was to be likened to the Emperors of Rome (and not the kings of France who might be deposed by an angry populace). It was Napoleon who turned the Louvre into a museum. He also carefully added eagle emblems and statues all over the structure to put his mark on it.

We also learned more about Katheryn Medici who not only brought better cooking to France but also commissioned the Palace of Tuileries (that was later burned by Parisians when they deposed Napoleon).

Our guide explained the importance of the Venus de Milo...something I (Christine) had never heard described before. She is 2100 years old. Prior statues of the Goddess Venus showed a demur goddess looking down and away with soft, plump curves. However, this statue from the Greek island of Milo has her head up, looking out at us with a strong expression. The lines on her stomach indicate her strength and her legs and shoulders show her to be in the midst of bold movement. The clothing draped around her waist is lower than the other statues and gives the impression of movement like it’s falling off. Originally, she was wearing earrings, a tiara and bracelets on her arms but the metal was stolen over the years. The statue would have been painted as well. In an interesting twist of fate, the arms were found with the body, but the French at the time thought they were too rough and didn’t save them, thinking they were for another statue - yet today her lack of arms is a defining feature.

We got to spend some time analyzing the Wings of Victory statue (or Nike in Greek) on the staircase. Fascinatingly, since Christine had last visited, the restoration of the boat under her was competed and now on display. (It had taken from 1860-2013 to restore!) The statue is 2200 years old and came from the Greek island of Simultras. She was found in pieces but the arms were never found so they don’t know their position. One wing is real, but the other is a recreation of her wing. When you look carefully, you can see she has both a heavy cloak and a thin tunic that are wet and heavy, billowing about her in a storm. It was really nice to have a mini art history lesson pointing out features that might have been overlooked otherwise.

After entering the portion of the palace decorated by Napoleon in the Baroque style (can you say “Bling”?), we moved on to see the painting of the John the Baptist by Leonardo da Vinci.

It was fascinating to study it for the triangle shape the figure makes and see the twisting shape present in his arms and body movement (Leonardo designed a spiral staircase for the King at Chambord just after this painting). Lastly, our guide used the tablet to superimpose this painting of John the Baptist over the Mona Lisa to demonstrate how they had the same tilt of the head, facial expression and were related paintings. Fascinating.

By the end, the boys were certainly done with the museum (Adam in particular...who is starting to perfect his plea-demand “I’m hungry!” that he exclaims five times a day at the most inopportune moments). But everyone had fun picking out a postcard about a piece of art we learned about - except Dave. He got stuck outside the gift shop skyping with his employees onsite with a customer, solving a problem, but by the time we got the postcards, he had figured out the problem. Amazing to be connected from half a world away!