The Greatest Living Room
1546 AD
1546 1546
02.19E48.52N
ART

PARIS, FRANCE
	The living room of a home is rarely where most people spend most of their living time. In most European homes for example, the living room is actually reserved as a mini museum where a family's pictures, knickknacks and best furniture are on display. The Louvre is France's grand living room, or museum. In it are some of the most priceless and treasured art objects in the world.
	At one time the site where the Louvre stands was used as a fortress for Philippe Augustus II (c) 1200 AD and as a castle for Charles V in the 14th century. In 1546 King Francis the First, a great art lover, began to build a great house to store his art treasures -- the Louvre. Since that time, nearly every monarch of France added to the collection. The minister of Louis the XIII, Cardinal de Richelieu (of Three Musketeers fame) made extensive additions to the collection.
	Notice the large number of visitors to one of the galleries in the picture here. This scene would have been impossible before 1793. Prior to that time, all the Louvre's artwork was for the private pleasure of the French king and his guests. In 1793, after the French Revolution, the Louvre was opened to all art lovers.
	The Louvre's collection of paintings extends from the 13th to the 19th centuries. Its sculptures go back to the times of the ancient Egyptians, Greeks, Etruscans, and Romans.
	What do you suppose is behind the glass in the picture?