The Louvre

The Louvre Palace in Paris began as a defensive fortress built under King Philip II at the end of the twelfth century, whose foundations remain visible beneath the modern building, and was transformed over more than five centuries by successive French monarchs into a vast royal palace before becoming a public museum after the French Revolution. Its long wings and courtyards were extended and rebuilt by a succession of architects, giving the complex a layered mix of French Renaissance, Baroque and Neoclassical facades around the Cour Carree and the Cour Napoleon. In 1989 the architect I. M. Pei added a large glass and metal pyramid over a new underground entrance hall in the main courtyard, a strikingly modern intervention within the historic palace that was controversial when unveiled but has since become one of the building's most recognizable features. The palace complex is among the largest museum buildings in the world by floor area.