The Louvre Colonnade

Here’s a superb part of the Louvre that is too often overlooked. Renowned Italian artist Gian Lorenzo Bernini must have been crushed when Louis XIV deemed his project too Baroque and instead, preferred the more classical design of architects Louis Le Vau, Charles Le Brun and Claude Perault.

Look up to the pediment. Its sculptures were created during the reign of Napoleon and therefore displayed his bust surrounded by allegorical statues, one of them carving the words “Napoleon completed the Louvre”. When Louis XVIII took over, he replaced these words with “Ludovico Magno” and had a wig added to Napoleon’s bust to make him look like Louis XIV… I guess one can call that “artistic license”…