Hotels near Louvre Museum

The Louvre holds over 380,000 objects and displays roughly 35,000 works across 73,000 square metres of gallery space. It is, by any measure, the largest art museum in the world. The collection spans from ancient Egyptian sarcophagi and Mesopotamian reliefs to Italian Renaissance masterpieces and French Neoclassical painting. The Mona Lisa draws the densest crowds in the Denon Wing, but the museum's real depth lies elsewhere - the Winged Victory of Samothrace at the top of the Daru staircase, the vast Napoleon III apartments, and the Islamic Art galleries beneath a shimmering glass-and-metal roof.

Admission is EUR 22. The museum is open Wednesday through Monday from 09:00 to 18:00, with extended hours until 21:00 on Fridays. It is closed every Tuesday. Free entry applies on the first Friday evening of each month after 18:00 and for all visitors under 26 from the EU. Timed-entry reservations are mandatory and should be booked online at least a few days in advance. Plan a minimum of three hours; serious art lovers could spend an entire day.

Pro Tip: Enter through the Passage Richelieu entrance on Rue de Rivoli or the Carrousel du Louvre underground mall entrance instead of the main Pyramid. Both have shorter security lines. Friday evenings after 18:00 are the quietest time to visit, with a fraction of the daytime crowds.