Louvre Rivoli

This station on the line 1 is the oldest existing metro station – construction started in October 1898. Its name indicates its location at the intersection of the Rue de Rivoli and the Place du Louvre.

The station foregoes commercial advertisements and instead showcases copies of exhibit items from the Louvre, from Antiquity to the Middle Ages – a foretaste of a visit to the museum above!

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La Grande Arche

La Grande Arche, the Great Arch, is the western end point of the axe historique. It was one of French president François Mitterrand’s “grands projets”, inaugurated in 1989 at the bicentennial of the French Revolution. A 110m high cube, it houses government offices and a viewing platform.

As with the Louvre, the Grande Arche is not centered on the axis but at a 6.5° angle. The reason for this is technical: below the parvis run a highway, the metro and the RER train, and the foundations would have stood right in the way of those. As it is, the shift shows off the depth of the monument.

La Grande Arche was initially known as La Grande Arche de la Fraternité  (The Great Arch of Fraternity) but is referred to as La Grande Arche de la Défense or simply La Grande Arche.

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The Tuileries Palace and Gardens

The Jardin des Tuileries is a 55 acres parc located between the Louvre and the Place de la Concorde. Its name derives from the tuileries (brickyards) that were in its place in the 13th century. Catherine de’ Medici, widow of king Henry II and mother of king François II, bought the lands which lay west of the Louvre and outside the Charles V city wall to have a new palace built with more space for gardens. Construction of the Palais des Tuileries began in 1564, and the Italian Gardens were set up on the lands between the new palace and what is today the Place de la Concorde.

The Palais des Tuileries burnt down during the events of the Commune and its remains were demolished in 1883.

This is where the Tulieries Palace stood

The historic axis has a slight kink at the Tuileries Palace site as you will notice if you stand at the Arc de Triomphe du Carrousel. The straight line that runs from Concorde along the Champs Élysées to the Arc de Triomphe de l’Étoile and beyond it to the Grande Arche de La Défense, was originally centered on the façade of the Tuileries Palace. The line east of the Tuileries Palace was centered on the façade of the Louvre, and since the two façades are at slightly different angles, the line in its continuation is not straight.

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Five fun facts about the Louvre

Louvre – east façade

The main entrance
When the Louvre was a royal palace, its main entrance was on the east side, the majestic gate facing the church Saint Germain l’Auxerrois. The triangular bas-relief on the pediment consists of two stone slaps each 17.5 meters long and weighing several tons.

Louvre – east gate

Napoléon transformed into Louis XIV
Napoléon Ier was represented at the center, with one of the Muses writing “Napoleon completed the Louvre”. This didn’t please King Louis XVIII, and the inscription was changed to “Ludovico Magno”, in reference to the Sun King Louis XIV. The crown was removed from Napoléon’s head and replaced with the curly wig of the Sun King. However, Napoléon’s face remained, along with a shield featuring his imperial eagle and his bees.

Napoléon transformed into Louis XIV

From castle to palace
King François Ier (1494-1547) began the transformation of the Château du Louvre to the Palais du Louvre by knocking down the keep. His son and successor Henri II continued his project.

“1541 – François I starts the Louvre”

The Pyramids
The Louvre Pyramid was a subject of controversy when its project was presented. It was at the center of a project improving access to the museum, which couldn’t handle the growing visitor influx.
As confirmed by the Louvre, it consists of 673 panes, not 666 as myths will have it. (Count them if you want.)

The Louvre pyramid


The inverted pyramid is an upside-down version that you can see from the Carrousel du Louvre shopping mall.


If you want to see the pyramid, don’t get off the métro at the stop Pyramides, however. This metro station is located on Avenue de l’Opéra [link], and the name is a reference to the Battle of the Pyramids of the French army under Napoléon Ier in 1798. Nothing to do with the Louvre pyramid, inaugurated in 1989.

Free Entry
Did you know children have free entry to the Louvre Museum? In fact, up to the age of 18, entry is free, and if your country of residence belongs to the European Economic Area (EU, Norway, Iceland, Liechtenstein), it’s even up to 26 years.

The pyramid is also the main entrance to the Louvre museum
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Saint Germain l’Auxerrois

This Roman Catholic church is located in the 1st arrondissement, just across the street from the Louvre. Its belfry is the starting point of the axe historique.
Saint Germain was the parish church for the inhabitants of the Louvre Palace. Since September 2019, it stands in for the religious services of Notre Dame cathedral.

It is said that the church’s main bell rang in the Saint Bartholonew’s Day massacre on the night of August 23-24, 1572.

The Saint Germain l’Auxerrois church belfry is the starting point of the axe historique
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Triumph in a straight line

I’m sure you have no trouble spotting the Champs Élysées avenue on a map of Paris. It’s long, large, and straight. Its two end points are easily made out – the Place Charles de Gaulle-Étoile with the Arc de Triomphe on one end, the Place de la Concorde with the Tuileries Gardens and the Louvre on the other. But did you know there’s more to this straight line?

View of Concorde, Tuileries Gardens and Louvre from the Eiffel Tower

The axe historique (historical axis) or voie triomphale (triumphal way) has a long history that goes back to the 16th century when Catherine de’ Medici, widow of Henry II, had the Tuileries Palace built. The palace burned down during the Commune events, it would be placed between the two “open ends” of the Louvre.

In the 17th century, André Le Nôtre, architect of the Versailles palace gardens, used the royal residence of the Tuileries Palace as reference when he created an avenue running westwards, planning as far as today’s Rond-Point des Champs Élysées.

Today, the axe historique starts at the Louvre, or even at the bell tower of the Saint Germain l’Auxerrois church and ends at the Grande Arche de la Défense.

Let’s explore the axe historique step by step, east to west.

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Le Château du Louvre

You have never seen it. You haven’t queued for tickets, and you haven’t been inside to see the Mona Lisa. I know you haven’t because le château du Louvre is not what you think it is. It is not the giant palace in the center of Paris housing one of the most famous museums in the world. That would be the Louvre Palace, le palais du Louvre.

Nit-picking, you say? Tell that to King Philippe-Auguste (reign: 1180-1223) who had the château du Louvre (the Louvre Castle) built to reinforce the wall he had built around the city.

Location of the Château du Louvre and the Philippe Auguste city wall (in brown) on a map of Paris

The château du Louvre was built near the river at the western end of the city, where the risk of an attack was highest as the English occupied Normandy less than 100km away. Philippe Auguste also wanted a safe place for his treasure and for his archives which had been lost in a battle with Richard Lionheart but since been reconstituted. The château du Louvre was roughly square with a moat surrounding it and a round keep at the center.

model of the château du Louvre at the Louvre Museum

At the time of King Charles V (reign: 1364-1380), Paris had spread past the old city wall, and Charles V had a new wall built. The château du Louvre lost most of its military significance, and the king could sacrifice some of the protective building aspects to make it more habitable while still providing a safe place for the king, notably after the revolt of 1358 led by the Prévôt des Marchands Étienne Marcel.

During the Hundred Years War, the English under King Henry V were allied with the Burgundians who held Paris, so the English could enter the city and occupied the château du Louvre without a fight. They stayed from 1420 to 1436.

Successive French kings demolished the château little by little and built new structures on top. During works in the 19th century, it was discovered that the foundations of the château du Louvre hadn’t been destroyed completely. The basis of the keep and two walls were cleared during the works for President François Mitterrand’s Grand Louvre project, and can be seen today during a visit of the Palais du Louvre’s famous museum, the Musée du Louvre.

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Snow in Paris

On Saturday, January 16, 2021, Paris woke up in the snow. We don’t have snow very often here, and when it falls, it rarely stays on the ground due to everything that heats up the ground, from the rarely-below-0°C temperatures to the métro and other underground installations.
I’ve been living here for twenty years, and I can count the number of days where the snow actually covered the ground on my hands.

In January and March 2013, we had a bunch of snow days, and again for two days in February 2018. Every other snowfall in the last decade has been negligible.
Hence the excitement of visitors, the confusion of unused-to-snow locals (without adequate footwear), the amusement of Montrealers, and the desperation of overground public transport drivers.

Have some photos from the 2013 and 2018 winters:

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