After having been picked up from the lobby of your downtown hotel in Paris, you will be accompanied by our driver guide to The Louvre for a guided tour of this amazing Museum to admire its 3 main works: the Venus de Milo, the Winged Victory of Samothrace and the Mona Lisa, painted by Leonardo da Vinci at the beginning of the 16th century. You will then be free to spend a little more time in the Louvre to visit other sections of the largest museum in the world.

Transport back to the hotel not included. Tour ends at the Louvre.

The Palace
"A medieval fortress, the palace of the kings of France, and a museum for the last two centuries, the architecture of the Louvre Palace bears witness to more than 800 years of history."

Two Centuries as a Museum
" Established in 1793 by the French Republic, the Louvre Museum, in the company of the Ashmolean Museum (1683), the Dresden Museum (1744) and the Vatican Museum (1784) is one of the earliest European museums."

The Collections
"Divided into 8 departments, the Louvre collections incorporate works dating from the birth of the great antique civilisations right up to the first half of the XIXth century, thereby confirming its encyclopedic vocation."

Renovations of the �Grand Louvre�
"The "Grand Louvre" is a part of the "Grand Travaux" or Major Works defined by the President of the Republic Fran�ois Mitterrand, which also includes the new Biblioth�que Nationale de France, the Op�ra Bastille and the Grande Arche de la D�fense."

Louvre Guided Tour Preview

"Victory of Samothrace" Samothrace (island in the North Aegean Sea) Circa 190 BC

For the Greeks, the goddess of Victory (Nike) was a beautiful young woman endowed with wings. This exceptional monument, raised upon the isle of Samothrace, set in a niche overlooking the sanctuary of the Great Gods, celebrates success at sea. The goddess stands on the prow of a galley, resisting the gusty storm, her right arm undoubtedly held high. It was an ex-voto of the Rhodians for a victory won at the beginning of the 2nd century BC: the attitude and the animated draping prefigure the reliefs for the altar of Pergamum.

"Venus de Milo" Melos (the Cyclades islands) Circa 100 BC

In spite of lacking attributes, the size and the attitude of this statue allow its identification as a goddess: Aphrodite, often represented half nude, or Amphitrite, goddess of the sea, venerated on the island of Melos. The style is characteristic of the late Hellenistic period, which revives classical themes while innovating. Thus the slipping drapery on the hips entails a closed stance and introduces an instancy to the figure. It hides the joint between the two blocks of marble that were sculpted separately, as were the left arm and leg, according to an utterly new technique.

The Mona Lisa (1479 - d. before 1550) also known as La Gioconda 1503-1506

If Vasari is correct, the portrait which Leonardo took to France, that was acquired by Francois I, was of the Mona Lisa, who in 1495 married Francesco di Bartolomeo di Zanoli del Giocondo. The title "La Gioconda" would thus derive from this notable Florentine's surname. But in Italian "gioconda" also means a light-hearted woman. With a lasting effect on Italian art, this portrait stood for an ideal. The smile that gives her life is, however, a feature of many of Leonardo's figures. Several scholars have concluded that the portrait was worked on over a long period, starting around (1505-1506 in Florence, and it was finished during the course of Leonardo's peregrinations in Milan or Rome.