St. Johnsbury Caledonian. [volume] (St. Johnsbury, Vt.) 1867-1919, 1880-01-30
Letters from Europe.

PariS-Ihe Louvre and its Art Treasures
Versdilles--Menuments and Muse
ums-On the homeavard auay.
To the Editor of the CaledOnian:
The first impression which Paris
makes on the visitor is of it's spacious
ness. This is particularly true if his
| hotel is far from the railway station by
| which he enters, and, if he attempts to
walk from one object of interest to an
other, the impression certainly abides.
The city is over eight miles from east
to west and seven miles broad. One
third of it, the older portion, lies south
of the Seine. This river for most of its
way through the city is f1anked on
either side by broad walks and wide
street. This adds much to the beauty
of the city, but these and the recent
improvements of street. widening have
pushed a large population towards the
country. Close upon the Seine and in
almost the exact center of Paris are the
palaces of the Tuileries and the Louvre.
These were formerly distinct, the la tier
being the older, while the former has
since 1900 been the city residence of the
royal rulers. But in the reign of Ma
poleon Ill. was completed the Union of
these palaces by extensions built on
both sides of the Place (du CarronseD
which separated them. The result was
to form magnificent structure which
with its enclosed courts and areas COW
ers space of about seventy-five acres.
Its form is an oblOng, half a mile in
length and nearly half as wide. The
west, or Tuileries, end, and the north
wing containing the valuable library of
the Louvre, were destroyed by the
Communists in 1871, and as yet are only
partially rebuilt. The ruthless leaders
Of the mob ordered the Louvre itself to
be fired; but the timely arrival of the
National troops from Versailles barely
saved it. This old palace is almost en-
tirely devoted to art collections and
curlosities. Napoleon despoiled Italy,
Spain and the Netherlands to enrich
this museum, and made it the finest in
the world, but on his abdication MANY
of these stolen treasures were restored.
Hence many pictures, engravings of
which struck off in Napoleon's reign are
marked Louvre or National (French) Gal
tery, are not now to be found here, but
rather in Rome or Florence, or Antwerp
whence they came. Some of them were
sold, because their former owners, i'm
poverished by the calamities of war,
could not afford to defray the expense
of bringing back their pictures, and so
have been scattered among private coll
lections and are rarely seen by the
public.
The ground floor of the Louvre con-
tains the best collection of Egvptian
antiquities in Europe, Assyrian remains
nearly equal to those in London. eight
hundred pieces of ancient and modern
sculpture, and about five thousand en-
cravings. The sculptures, while inferior
to the collections seen in Rome and
Florence, yet comprise few works of
great merit and wide fame. Among
these are the Venus of Milo, The Bor-
ghese Gladiator, Melpomene U3 feet
high), River-gOd of the Tiber with
Romulus and Remus and the She wolf.
Silenus and Bacchus, Pallas, Hercules,
two statues of Diana, one Greek, the
other with the hind, work by. Goujon
IN the 10th century,-cuts of both are