Treasures of the Louvre (Tiny Folio) - Tapa dura

Two hundred years ago, the doors of the Louvre opened to the public for the very first time. The palace of the French kings had been transformed into a museum that today stretches over an enormous architectural ensemble right in the heart of Paris.

The royal collections first assembled by Francis I in the sixteenth century were later transferred to the Louvre palace, and this prestigious core was further enriched with artistic treasures during the Revolutionary period. The collections have been growing ever since, and are today divided into seven departments. Oriental Antiquities, Egyptian Antiquities, and Greek, Etruscan, and Roman Antiquities illustrate the art and culture of the ancient Near East and Middle East and the Mediterranean countries. The other four so-called "modern" departments--painting, sculpture, decorative arts, and drawing--span Western art from the height of the Middle Ages to the mid-nineteenth century.

Michel Laclotte is an art historian and the former director of the Louvre.