The Louvre
The Louvre is the world's most-visited art museum, located in Paris, France, housing an extraordinary collection that includes the Mona Lisa and the Venus de Milo.
Originally built as a fortress in the late 12th century, the building was later transformed into a royal palace before opening as a public museum in 1793, during the French Revolution, displaying works previously reserved for royalty.
The museum's collection spans thousands of years of art and artifacts, from ancient Egyptian antiquities to Renaissance masterpieces, housed across three wings totaling over 650,000 square feet of gallery space.
The museum's modern glass pyramid entrance, designed by architect I.M. Pei and completed in 1989, has itself become an iconic Parisian landmark, contrasting with the historic palace architecture surrounding it.