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nItnstarted as a royal palace.
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nKingnFrancis I of France was an art collector, and he wanted a palacenworthy of his wonderful collection. He had a very grand palace builtnin Paris.
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nEverynFrench king after him expanded the palace or its grounds—and manynexpanded the art collection as well. Louis XIV, especially, acquiredna lot more art, including the entire collection of Charles I ofnEngland after that king was executed by rebellious forces. Louis XIVncalled himself the Sun King and thought he was chosen by God to benthe absolute monarch of France, and he wanted an even larger, evenngrander palace than the Louvre. So Louis XIV had the lavish Palace ofnVersailles built outside of Paris, and he moved his court there. ThenLouvre was at that point largely empty of people (although prettynfull of art!).
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nNear the end of the 1700s, the king of France was Louis XIV’s great-great-great grandson Louis XVI. This is the king who ended up losing his head duringnthe French Revolution. Soon, on this date in 1793, France’snrevolutionary government opened the Louvre as a public museum of art.
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| Winged Victory is one of the most famous statues in the Louvre. |
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nChecknout today’s Louvre with this video.
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| The Mona Lisa is one of the museum’s most famous exhibits. |
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n(Ofncourse, this video is just a quick look at the Louvre. As a matter ofnfact, I spent HOURS in the Louvre, when I visited it, but all I gotnwas a quick look. You could visit the Louvre every day for a week andnstill not have much time to look at each exhibit, the museum is sonhuge and its displays are so numerous!)
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Thenmuseum itself is an exhibit!
Thenmuseum itself is an exhibit!n
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nWhennI went to the Louvre, I found the building itself to be amazing. Thengrand staircases, cavernous galleries, and varied display areas arentruly wondrous to behold and are as worthy of attention, to my mind,nas the art on exhibit.
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nAnothernfascinating thing you can enjoy when you visit the Louvre is thendisplay of remnants of the original building on the site, King PhilipnAugustus’s fortress. These archeological findings were discoverednwhen construction began on an underground entrance to thenLouvre—which is under the famous glass pyramid—in 1983. Innaddition to the original foundation, archeologists discovered thenusual assortment of pottery, clothing, baskets, coins, and even anbird-shaped whistle. Lots of bones from cooking scraps were found, asnwell, including one cooking pot with the bones of a pigeon stillninside, and archeologists found pieces of a ceremonial helmet made ofnbronze and gilded with gold.
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nAlsonon this date:
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Constitution Day in Pohnpei, Micronesia
Constitution Day in Pohnpei, Micronesia n
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Anniversary of Montana becoming a state
Anniversary of Montana becoming a state n
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nAid and Abet Punsters Day
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