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Skip the Line
Discover the world's most visited art museum and see why this vast collection spanning the Ancient Egyptian to the Neoclassical attracts so many visitors each year. No other museum sums up humankind's artistic endeavor more, but the Mona Lisa and Venus de Milo are only the beginning of what you'll see on our Louvre tours. Skip the line to gain fast access to the best of its 35,000 pieces with a carefully designed itinerary so you get the most out of your 3 hours inside with an expert City Wonders guide.
Start off with the 4,000-year-old Great Sphinx of Tanis before graduating to the Louvre's Greek and Roman antiquities. Be amazed by the grace of the Nike of Samothrace and the Venus de Milo, as your guide points out the subtle details you might have missed. Then it's on to the Italian Renaissance and perhaps the most enigmatic portrait of all time, the Mona Lisa. Your guide will share captivating commentary on the history of this unrivaled masterpiece, its varying interpretations, as well as the techniques Leonardo used to draw the viewer into her persona.
Da Vinci and Raphael
See other important works by Da Vinci and Raphael, as well as lesser-known gems for a complete view on this influential period in history. Then enter the golden age of French Romanticism with the masterful allegories found in Delacroix's 'Liberty Leading the People' and Géricault's 'Raft of the Medusa'.
Learn how the former doesn't depict the French Revolution, but an uprising against the restoration of the monarchy in 1830, and the distant message of hope the horizon conceals in the latter. Two other sculptures your guide will take you to are Michelangelo's 'Dying Slave' and Antonio Canova's monument to the purity of love 'Psyche Revived by Cupid's Kiss'.
With so much art, it's easy to forget that the Louvre has a separate history as the Royal Palace before Louis XIV moved the court to Versailles. In the Apollo Gallery, you will catch a rare glimpse of what the Louvre's interior looked like before it became a museum in 1793, as well as the Crown Jewel collection. In the Napoleon Apartments, you'll get a taste for the equally sumptuous interiors during the Second Empire (1852-1870).
