The Roman antiquities on the first floor, which can be accessed by the Daru staircase where the Winged Victory of Samothrace stands, the Etruscan collections (rooms 660, 662, 663), the Greek ceramics exhibited in the Campana Gallery, the terracotta figurines, the bronzes and valuables. The long Galerie Campana displays an outstanding collection of more than one thousand Greek potteries. In the galleries paralleling the Seine, much of the museum’s Roman sculpture is displayed. The Roman portraiture is representative of that genre; examples include the portraits of Agrippa and Annius Verus; among the bronzes is the Greek Apollo of Piombino.

The Roman antiquities belong to the Louvre’s Department of Greek, Etruscan, and Roman Antiquities is one of eight departments of the Louvre Museum. It houses one of the largest and most famous collections of ancient art in the world. The Greek, Etruscan, and Roman department displays pieces from the Mediterranean Basin dating from the Neolithic to the 6th century. The collection spans from the Cycladic period to the decline of the Roman Empire.

This department is one of the museum’s oldest; it began with appropriated royal art, some of which was acquired under Francis I. Initially, the collection focused on marble sculptures, such as the Venus de Milo. Works such as the Apollo Belvedere arrived during the Napoleonic Wars, but these pieces were returned after Napoleon I’s fall in 1815. In the 19th century, the Louvre acquired works including vases from the Durand collection, bronzes such as the Borghese Vase from the Bibliothèque nationale.

The department houses more than 80,000 works from Etruscan, Greek and Roman antiquity, making it one of the richest collections in the world. In particular, there are more than 5,000 ancient sculptures and more than 13,000 Greek ceramics. In total, 6,000 works are presented in 50 rooms and 9,400 m2.

The Apartments of Anne of Austria
The collections of Roman antiquities located in the first summer apartments of Anne of Austria, the mother of Louis XIV. then Gallery of Antiques by the will of Napoleon Bonaparte in 1800, these rooms have retained their original ceilings. Queen Anne of Austria, mother of Louis XIV, on the death of her husband Louis XIII in 1643, she assumed the regency for a time. She is then housed in the apartment which has been that of queens since Catherine de Medici in the 16th century.

The works of the resplendent were entrusted to the architect Louis Le Vau. He devoted himself to the Palace of Versailles. The decor is the work of painter Giovanni Francesco Romanelli and sculptor Michel Anguier. The two artists are inspired by Italian palaces, such as the Farnese Palace in Rome, or the Pitti Palace in Florence. Ancient gods and goddesses mingle with allegories of the seasons, elements, stars and virtues, and biblical characters to celebrate the queen mother.

After the French Revolution of 1789, the former royal apartments were gradually transformed into a museum. This apartment is ideal for accommodating all the collections of ancient sculptures brought back from Italy. The architect Jean-Arnaud Raymond directed the work of the new “Galerie des Antiques” from 1798 to 1800. He knocked down walls and doors to open the rooms to each other and created porticoes of columns and large arcades to still give more majesty in the long row.

Collection
At the Louvre, the collections of Greek and Roman antiquities were gradually installed. Louis XIV first placed part of his collection in the Salle des Cariatides in 1692. In 1798, new antiques arrived following the Italian campaigns. The Galerie des Antiques was then created in the former apartments of Anne of Austria. Later, in 1807, Napoleon I purchased the collection of his brother-in-law, Prince Camille Borghese. The Emperor then had the Gallery of Antiquities enlarged by using the adjoining rooms which today house, among other masterpieces, the Venus de Milo.

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When the First Empire fell in 1815, many statues were returned to their country of origin. But ancient masterpieces are still exhibited in these ceremonial rooms which are now devoted to Roman collections: first marble or bronze statues and reliefs, then wall paintings from Pompeii. Here you can admire works from the end of the Roman Republic, with the so-called relief of Domitius Ahenobarbus, to the philosopher emperors of the 2nd century, Hadrian and Marcus Aurelius.

Altar of Domitius Ahenobarbus
The Altar of Domitius Ahenobarbus (more properly called the Statuary group base of Domitius Ahenobarbus) is a series of four sculpted marble plaques that probably decorated a base supporting cult statues in the cella of a Temple of Neptune located in Rome on the Field of Mars. The frieze is dated to the end of the second century BC, which makes it the second oldest Roman bas-relief currently known. However, there is also a contemporaneous relief depicting a Roman naval bireme with armed marines, from a temple of Palestrina built c. 120 BC. The sculpted panels are still visible today, with one portion on display at the Louvre and another at the Glyptothek in Munich.

Louvre Museum
The Louvre is the world’s most-visited museum, and a historic landmark in Paris, France. The Louvre Museum is a Parisian art and archeology museum housed in the former royal palace of the Louvre. Opened in 1793, it is one of the largest and richest museums in the world, but also the busiest with nearly 9 million visitors a year. It is the home of some of the best-known works of art, including the Mona Lisa and the Venus de Milo.

The museum is housed in the Louvre Palace, originally built in the late 12th to 13th century under Philip II. Remnants of the Medieval Louvre fortress are visible in the basement of the museum. Due to urban expansion, the fortress eventually lost its defensive function, and in 1546 Francis I converted it into the primary residence of the French Kings. The building was extended many times to form the present Louvre Palace.

The Musée du Louvre contains more than 380,000 objects and displays 35,000 works of art in eight curatorial departments with more than 60,600 square metres (652,000 sq ft) dedicated to the permanent collection. The Louvre exhibits sculptures, objets d’art, paintings, drawings, and archaeological finds. The Louvre Museum presents very varied collections, with a large part devoted to the art and civilizations of Antiquity: Mesopotamia, Egypt, Greece and RomeLogo indicating tariffs to quote that they; medieval Europe (setting around the ruins of the keep of Philippe-Auguste, on which the Louvre was built) and Napoleonic France are also widely represented.

The Louvre has a long history of artistic and historical conservation, from the Ancien Régime to the present day. Following the departure of Louis XIV for the Palace of Versailles at the end of the 17th century century, part of the royal collections of paintings and antique sculptures are stored there. After having housed several academies for a century, including that of painting and sculpture, as well as various artists housed by the king, the former royal palace was truly transformed during the Revolution into a “Central Museum of the Arts of the Republic”. It opened in 1793, exhibiting around 660 works, mainly from royal collections or confiscated from emigrant nobles or from churches. Subsequently, the collections will continue to be enriched by wartime spoils, acquisitions, sponsorships, legacies, donations, and archaeological discoveries.

Located in the 1st arrondissement of Paris, between the right bank of the Seine and the rue de Rivoli, the museum is distinguished by the glass pyramid of its reception hall, erected in 1989 in the Napoleon courtyard and which has become emblematic, while the equestrian statue of Louis XIV constitutes the starting point of the Parisian historical axis. Among his most famous plays are The Mona Lisa, The Venus de Milo, The Crouching Scribe, The Victory of Samothrace, and The Code of Hammurabi.

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