The Birmingham age-herald. [volume] (Birmingham, Ala.) 1902-1950, 1916-10-29
From the Christian Science Monitor.
OT1HE LOUVRE is, Of course. one {

From the Christian Science Monitor.
0NHE LOUVRE is. of course. one Of
those great institutions which. like
q the British museum, are never
very long absent from the news Of the
day. When something is not being pre-
scented to these institutions, as, for in
stance, M. Zougaloff's recent gifts to the
former, something new is being discov-
cred about their contents. Everybody who
visits Paris to see the sights Of the city
goes, as a matter OF course, to see the
Louvre, just as everybody who visits
London for like purpose recognizes
that the British museum Is one of the
places that he should see. II would be
an interesting subject for inquiry, 1t is
true, how many Londoners, within 10
miles OF Bloombury, have ever been in
side the museum; and, perhaps, after
he had "done" London, the Unsuitable
statistician would want to go to Paris
and institute a similar inquiry In regard
to the great building on the banks of the
Seine; but such considerations are be-
side the present purpose. And, after all
it is almost platitude to say that 1t is
the visitor who sees the sights Of any
city. The resident, who can see them
any time, often never sees them at all.
Now. in the southwest corner Of the
quadrangle of the Louvre, this visitor
may see, traced on the pavement, the
plan Of building. If his guidebook be
a good one, or his cicerone we'll informed.
he will learn that this plan is that OF
the foundations Of the great keep erected
here by Philip Augustus in the twelfth or
the early days Of the thirteenth century.
This great fortress, which was defended
by rectangular Notifications, was denol-
ished by Francis I, who requisitioned the
services Of the noted architect. Pierre
Lescault, to build here, in it's stead. a
great palace. Pierre Lescault built the
portions of the wings to the south and
west of the courtyard. and these will ever
rank amongst the finest examples of re-
Nuisance architecture which the world
has to show. The rest of the buildings
surrounding the courtyard date from the
reigns of Louis XIII and Louis XIV, and
among these the most wonderful piece
of work is the colorado of the east
facade, built between the years 1866 and
1870, by Claude Perrault. Catherine de
Modici and Henry Nv added the Grande
Galerie and the pavilion Henry Nv, re-
spectively; but the two great wings pro-
jecting westward from the corners of the
quadrangle, each consisting OF parallel
galleries with pavilions at intervals, were
built by Napoleon III.
The site Of the Tuileries. whose history
is so intimately bound up with that OF
the Louvre. knows its great building
OF course, no more. The structure itself
was burnt by the Communists in 1871
all except the Pavilion de Flore on the
south Only the Pavilion. de Marsan
| which is now occupied by the museum
of decorative arts, was rebuilt.
| But to return to the Louvre Many
books have been written about it and
around it. There is a wealth of story
| tales of great people and great happen
ings, connected with its long galleries
and great chambers; but to the traveller
of today. it speaks only of pictures ant
annin piG1nres, and sculpture and sgail