Louvre Museum (Paris, France)

The Louvre Museum is the largest museum in the world, housed in what used to be the Louvre Palace, main residence of the king of France. It is a collection of over 38,000 pieces of art from all over the world. The art collection began in 1793 ass a public museum, with 500 pieces of art from the king's collection. Today, it boasts over 10 million visitors in a year, making it the most popular museum in the world as well. It has been the home of the Mona Lisa since Napoleon placed it in the collection.  The Mona Lisa was stolen from the Louvre on August 21,1911, and it's theft ironically drew even more crowds that wished to stare at the empty space on the wall where the Mona Lisa had hung. When recovered in 1913, the museum became a must-see for people around the world, especially to see the Mona Lisa.

"History of the Louvre From Château to Museum." History of the Louvre | Louvre Museum | Paris. Louvre, n.d. Web. 21 May 2019.

Parent Map

da Vinci and the Renaissance Map

Coordinates

Latitude: 48.860611100000
Longitude: 2.337644000000

Timeline of Events Associated with Louvre Museum (Paris, France)

Date Event Manage

Mona Lisa, Leonardo da Vinci (1503-1519)
11 Aug 1911

The Mona Lisa is Stolen from the Louvre

On August 21, 1911, the Mona Lisa was stolen from the Louvre. The ensuing media frenzy was unparalleled for any sort of art theft, and the hysteria bred all sorts of conspiracy theories. One prominent theory was that it was stolen by rogue modernist artists, trying to destroy the old world order and imposing their own. This line of thinking actually led to the arrest of Pable Picasso as a suspect, but he was never convicted. 

The painting was actually stolen by Vincenzo Perugia, who had briefly worked at the Louvre. Wearing a worker's smock, he hid in the museum until after it had closed, took the painting out of the frame, and hid it in a closet. The next morning, he hid it under his smock, and walked right out with it. He kept it in a hidden compartment of a trunk in his house for the next two years. 

Britannica, The Editors of Encyclopaedia. “Mona Lisa.” Encyclopædia Britannica, Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc., 4 Apr. 2019, www.britannica.com/topic/Mona-Lisa-painting.