The pyramid and fountain outside of the Louvre.

A head from Easter Island.

There are countless pieces of art in the Louvre, most of which was gathered (stolen) by Napoleon during his attempt at conquering Europe.  To see all of these timeless piece of art would take approximately 6 days of 10 hours each…  we had two hours.  We quickly decided on three pieces of art that we were going to attempt to see:  the Mona Lisa, the Winged Victory, and the Venus.  I’m proud to say we made it to all of them despite an unintentional detour through a display of African and Oceanantic artwork that resulted in a picture of the group of us posing by a head from Easter Island.

The famous Mona Lisa.

The Mona Lisa is ridiculous!  I was told by many that it was really small, which it is.  It’s in a humongous room and surrounded by a barricade and security guards that prevents one from getting more than 20 feet to the painting.  It is also constantly surrounded by about 100+ people, all trying to catch a glimpse of the most famous painting in the portfolio of western art.  If you do happen to see it, you will quickly realize that it’s about the size of your standard European printing paper (A4).  Not nearly as impressive as one would think.

The Winged Victory.

The Winged Victory is a far cooler piece.  It’s a gigantic sculpture that is now missing its head and arms, but is still incredibly majestic.  Strategically placed at the top of a massive marble staircase in the museum, the Winged Victory is a very powerful and humbling figure that leaves even the most visionary of artists in shear awe of its majesty.  I literally could not fathom what it was that I was looking at, nor do I think it has even sunk in.

Venus de Milo

Our last stop was the Venus, another Greek sculpture.  This one did not impress me too much, though it was just as ridiculous as the Mona Lisa in that it was surrounded by hundreds of people for no apparent reason.  The only difference between the two, aside from one being a painting and the other being a sculpture, is that this one you could walk right up to.  I could have easily reached over the guard rail and grabbed the statue, but I had no intention of setting off an alarm and having the entire Parisian police force decend upon me in seconds.

Despite our short time in the museum, I did manage to see a fair amount.  This, however, is a mere fraction of what is actually held there.  I’m not sure if I’ll get back while I’m here, but now that I’ve seen the “famous” things that I cared at all to see, I can possibly take my time and actually try and comprehend the rest of what’s held in that massive building we call the Louvre.