The big Pyrimid Entrance to The Louvre Museum below. Left one taken by Yu from a second level window.
This is the sprial staircase that brings the visitors down from the Pyrimid entrance to the Museum entrance at lower ground floor. Can you see the centre pillar is moving? I was so amazed by the design that it actually served as a lift for wheelchair.
Ha, I thought I have not seen this inverted Glass Pyrimid when I read the book, but the photo proved me wrong. Note the smal Pyrimid blow. Refer to Epilogue you would know what this is. The one on the right is taken by Yu.
The inner court yard. Can you see me in the middle by the fountain. I remember Guus was quite angry when I asked him to take this photo because he could neither take the whole court in, nor make me appear more obvious. But that shows exactly how big the inner court yard is. According to the book, it is of million square feet.
The Napolean court which used to be an open space has not been closed above using a glass ceiling to host many giant sculptures.
"Despite the estimated 5 weeks it would take a visitor to properly appreciate the 65,300 pieces of art in this building, most tourists chose an abbreviated experience Langdon refered to as 'Louvre Lite' - a full sprint through the museum to see the three most famous objects: The Mona Lisa, Venus de Milo and The Winged Victory". "(from p35 of The Da Vinci Code)
So this is Venus de Milo. Right most by Yu.
One common tendency for tourists visiting Louvre is to take photos of every piece of art they see. I did that too in the beginning, but soon realised that I could never make the pic looks as look as the original. And That is exactly why you need to visit the museum to see the real thing. But Guus found this group of Asian (more precisely Japanese and Chinese tourists) so interesting that he cannot help but take photo of them, instead of the sulpture itself. But I was not able to resist the temptation, so I took a far away view when we have walked some distance away.
And this is the Winged Victory. (Photo from Yu)
At beginning, I almost overlooked it because it was at a staircase where many people was sitting and resting. So it doesn't have the dramatic effect as for Milo above.
For The Mona Lisa, I don't have picture, neither does yu. So I guess it must be that the Museum has forbidden people take photos there. Well, but we all know how that FAMOUS picture looks right?
And to my surprise, the actual picture is really much smaller than I thought (and probably will be showed in the movie). It is about the size of a standard portrait and there is a glass protection over it. And THERE ARE SO MANY PEOPLE in front of it. So I actually didn't even have the chance to get a closer look of it. Well, no regret about that. I feel to check an art book will probably let me see more than looking at the actual painting.
Among the four famous art museums mentioned by the book - Musee du Louvre, Ultramodern Pompidou Centre, Museum d'Orsay and Musee du Jeu de Paume. GUus and I have visted the first two and Yu has visited one more, Museum d'Orsay.
Ultramodern Pompidou Centre and Museum d'Orsay (photos from Yu)
I really respect Yu for being able to visit another art museum after Louvre. For me, after spending about one whole day in it from opening at 9 to closing at 6, I am really tired of seeing anymore museums. and So did Guus. Given that much time, we have not be able to see all the sections and only now I realised that is because Lourve is so long - more than 3 Effiel Tower or Washington Mounment puting end to end, both I have mounted.
Some more pictures before I end this part:
A wing contains Italian Sulpture
A lovely Angel. I like the expression on his face as if he has just thought of a naughty idea.
Many people are drawing there in the museum, using the sulptures as their models.
Can visit here for more Photos of Louvre in the Novel:
http://www.danbrown.com/secrets/davinci_code/gallery.html
怡然自得 @ 5/19/2006 4:37:40 PM请Please leave your comment here