best time to visit Louvre
 

I will be in Paris from Thursday night until monday morning in November, I would like to spend a half day at the Louvre (I do have a museum pass, what time is best to visit without too much of a crowd, morning or afternoon?

Go Friday, because weekends are the most crowded. Some people say that crowds aren't bad at the end of the day, the last couple of hours before closing, but I am in a better frame of mind for big museums in the morning, and we are talking BIG here.<BR><BR>Do some research on the excellent Louvre website about what you want to see. There are also guided tours during the day, as well as self-guided <BR>taped tours.<BR>Group tours can be booked in advance( I think there's one in English at 11am but that's too late in the day to start your visit, imo), or you can just wait at the &quot;group welcome&quot; desk (Acceuil des groupes). For the audio guide, many of the most important art works have number codes; you punch the number into your audio guide for information on that work.<BR><BR>The longest entrance line for the Louvre is the main one starting in the courtyard at the Pyramid. <BR><BR>There is another entrance at Porte des Lions, between the Arc du Carrousel and the Tuileries Gardens. A highly-recommended entrance is the underground entrance from the metro stop “Palais Royal-Musee du Louvre”. Either splurge and use a ticket to enter the metro or, if you are already coming off a metro train, exit at the far end of the platform where the sign says “direct access to the Louvre” and you will walk through a security check, then the Carrousel shops, and into the central ticket and information area. <BR><BR>If you enter off the rue de Rivoli across from the Palais Royal, you can also take the entrance via the Louvre Carrousel shops. If instead you walk under the archway, you will find a guard who will let you enter through an express escalator because you have the museum pass.

Elaine,<BR>Thanks! What a great source of helpful information you are! Now I know why the guys at work rave about this site! I really appreciate your help.<BR>Sherry

I always like to be in line when the Louvre opens, to avoid the crowds and to see some of the students copying the old masters. I agree with Elaine that I would plan carefully what I wanted to see. When my daughter first visited the Louvre, she wanted to see the Egyptian antiquities, so we started there and had the place to ourselves.

I was just looking at the Louvre's website and now I am a bit more confused, it says that the Greek and Roman sculptures and icons are closed on Fridays, does that mean I won't be able to see the venus de milo or the winged victory of Samothrace? It also says some of the Italian paintings from the 17th and 18th centuries are also closed, but I don't know which ones.

So unfortunate you have only the long weekend! Take heed of the website, like you've noticed - if they say a section is closed, it is closed and this includes anything considered a major work of art within it. With the luxury of a longer stay, we are splitting our Louvre visit over several days (taking advantage of the 5 day carte musee for all it is worth) and simply doing limited tours of our favorite sections.<BR><BR>This is a good tactic for any large museum, by the way, as we also practiced it on our visits to the Metropolitan Museum of Art in NYC which closes certain sections (such as textiles) on a regular basis.

Sherry, you raise a very good point. The Louvre does not maintain all of its rooms permanently open. Certain rooms are closed on certain days of the week.<BR><BR>From the Louvre website and my map of the Louvre (obtained Sept/02), it looks as if &quot;Greek, Roman &amp; Etruscan Sculpture&quot; rooms 18 - 31 and &quot;Greek Ceramics&quot; rooms 39 - 47 are closed on Fridays. Venus de Milo is in &quot;Greek Sculptures&quot; room # 12 - so, it should be open Fridays. I can locate the WV of S on my map but it does not appear to have a room number assigned to it - in any case, it isn't in any of the rooms indicated for Friday closure - although, probably best to confirm this one first.<BR><BR>As for the 17th - 18th c. Italian paintings, some rooms are closed while others are open. From the look of things there is still a good-sized area of this collection open on Fridays - of course, the important consideration is whether there are specific paintings in which you are interested and whether they will be accessible. (Mona Lisa is in Room # 12 which is open Fridays.)<BR><BR>An alternative could be to reschedule your Louvre visit until Saturday morning. I was at the Louvre at ~9:45 a.m. on a Saturday in Sept/02. Upon arrival, it was very quiet. I didn't start to notice any increase in traffic until about 11 a.m. and it didn't really seem busy until about noon.<BR><BR>In any case, enjoy your visit!

Very sorry ! ... Mona Lisa is in Room # 13.