The very scale of the Louvre is both impressive and daunting. Formerly a royal residence in the 14th century, it has beautiful staterooms, courtyards and galleries. First opened to the public as a museum in 1793 by the revolutionary convention it has continued to grow in size with President Francois Mitterand's grand Louvre project of the 1980's more than doubling the capacity.
The crowds, the expansive dimensions and the proliferation of exhibits can give the visitors a sense of diminishing in size as the very place itself appears to grow. The best approach for a first time visit is to be selective and focused, deciding what most you would like to see and accepting that you cannot see it all.
The exhibits are organised in collections based on the original royal collections, and these in turn are arranged into wings -- Richelieu, Scully and Denon. Colour coding, labelling and regular signs will ease the journey through the various departments. As well as being a spectacular palace building, the Louvre is about more than the Mona Lisa. It is replete with artistic treasures of great diversity including Greek, Roman and Egyptian antiquities, Islamic and Oriental art, French and European sculpture and, of course, exquisite French, Italian and Spanish painting.
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