Welcome to our favorite destination in Paris! It takes about three days to see everything. Go and have lunch and drinks too. (Kisses from PARIS!!!)
On August 10, 1793, revolutionary France opened the Louvre as a public museum. Two hundred and thirty-three years later, it remains one of the great places on Earth to think about beauty, bodies, ambition, civilization—and what human beings choose to leave behind.
By the BEAUX HOMMES Arts & Travel Desk
Happy birthday to the Musée du Louvre.
Today, August 10, 2026, marks exactly 233 years since the Louvre opened to the public as the Muséum central des arts on August 10, 1793, in the middle of the French Revolution.
There is an important distinction: the museum is 233 years old. The building is considerably older.
Long before millions of visitors came looking for Leonardo da Vinci, Greek gods and Egyptian pharaohs, the Louvre was a royal complex whose history reaches back to medieval France. The museum itself describes its transformation as a journey from a medieval fortress to the former palace of French monarchs and eventually to the Louvre we know today.
That history is part of what makes the Louvre unlike almost any other museum.
You are not simply entering a building containing art.
The building is part of the art.
For BEAUX HOMMES readers—artists, photographers, designers, bodybuilders, writers, travelers, collectors and people fascinated by beauty—the Louvre deserves more than a hurried stop in front of the Mona Lisa.
Here is why.
BEFORE THE MONA LISA: THE LOUVRE WAS ABOUT POWER
The Louvre was already centuries old when it became a museum.
Its earliest incarnation was medieval and defensive. By the Renaissance, however, France wanted something considerably more glamorous.
In 1528, François I ordered the medieval keep demolished and set about transforming the old fortress into a Renaissance palace. François had immersed himself in Italian Renaissance culture, famously inviting Leonardo da Vinci to France; in 1546 he commissioned architect Pierre Lescot to begin the Louvre’s transformation into a grand royal residence.
That history is still visible.
Walk through the Salle des Caryatides, for example, and you are standing in one of the great surviving spaces of the Renaissance Louvre. Its four sculpted female figures were created by Jean Goujon in 1550 to support the musicians’ gallery. The room once functioned as a royal ballroom; Molière later performed there before Louis XIV.
This is one of our first pieces of advice:
Look at the rooms, not only the objects inside them.
The Louvre is architecture, interior design, political propaganda, fashion history and museum history simultaneously.
WHEN A PALACE BECAME THE PEOPLE’S MUSEUM
By the reign of Louis XVI, plans were already developing to turn parts of the royal collection into a permanent museum display. Then revolution changed everything.
On August 10, 1793, the newly created Muséum central des arts opened its doors.
Think about the symbolic power of that moment.
A palace associated with monarchy was being transformed into a place where works that had belonged to kings could be viewed by members of the public.
The Louvre would continue changing as France changed. Monarchies returned. Empires rose and collapsed. Revolutions erupted. Collections expanded. New departments were created. Political regimes used the palace differently.
Under the Second Empire, for example, the Louvre remained both a museum and a center of imperial power. Napoleon III’s expansion created some of its most spectacular interiors, including the magnificent Napoleon III Apartments, which preserve the atmosphere of 19th-century imperial luxury.
The history of the Louvre therefore teaches something artists should remember:
Museums are never completely separate from politics.
What societies collect, protect, display, rename, acquire, return, celebrate or hide tells us something about the society itself.
THEN CAME THE PYRAMID
One of the Louvre’s greatest modern design decisions was also initially one of its most controversial.
Architect I. M. Pei’s glass Pyramid was inaugurated on March 29, 1989, following four years of work. Its astonishingly clear glass was developed so visitors could continue seeing the historic Louvre facades through the new structure. The Pyramid is 21 meters high and has since become the visual symbol of the modern museum.
Artists should study this carefully.
Pei did not imitate the old building.
He contrasted it.
Glass against stone. Geometry against ornament. Transparency against historical weight.
And somehow, the new object made people look again at the old architecture surrounding it.
That is an outstanding lesson in design: respecting history does not always mean copying it.
Sometimes the strongest dialogue between old and new comes from allowing each to remain unmistakably itself.
THE BEAUX HOMMES WAY TO SEE THE LOUVRE
Here is our strongest recommendation:
Do not try to “do the Louvre.”
You can’t.
The Louvre’s online collections contain entries for more than 500,000 works, while the museum’s collections encompass almost 10,000 years of art history.
Trying to race through it collecting famous artworks like trophies is one of the least satisfying ways to experience the place.
Instead, choose a theme.
For our readers, we suggest several.
1. THE BODY ROUTE
If you love bodybuilding, figure photography, life drawing or fashion photography, spend serious time with ancient sculpture.
Go to the Venus de Milo, but don’t stop there.
The Louvre’s Greek collections contain gods, athletes, heroes and idealized bodies whose proportions and poses helped define Western artistic concepts of physical beauty for centuries. The Venus herself was discovered on the Greek island of Melos in 1820, entered the Louvre in 1821, and is now displayed in the Sully wing.
Then visit the Salle des Caryatides.
Among its sculptures is the Sleeping Hermaphrodite, a particularly interesting work for BEAUX HOMMES readers because its body deliberately challenges the viewer’s initial assumptions about sex and physical identity. The room also includes representations of Apollo, Artemis, Dionysos and other mythological figures.
Then find the Michelangelo Gallery.
Michelangelo understood something every great bodybuilding photographer should understand:
Muscle communicates emotion.
The human back, shoulder, hip, torso and hand can tell a story before the face does.
2. THE THREE ICONS—BUT LOOK AROUND THEM
Yes, you should see the Mona Lisa.
But here is the BEAUX HOMMES rule:
Do not stare only at her.
Leonardo’s portrait is displayed in the Salle des États, Room 711, Denon wing, Level 1. François I acquired it after inviting Leonardo to France.
Now turn around.
Directly opposite is Paolo Veronese’s enormous The Wedding Feast at Cana.
It measures more than six meters high and almost ten meters wide and is the Louvre’s largest painting. It depicts roughly 130 figures in an extraordinary theatrical banquet.
Millions rush toward one small portrait while an enormous masterpiece is sitting behind them.
There is probably a lesson about fame in there somewhere.
Then find the magnificent Winged Victory of Samothrace on the Daru staircase.
Do not simply photograph her.
Walk toward her slowly.
Study how the staircase, light, wings, drapery and elevated position turn a sculpture into an entrance scene. Even the placement of an artwork can become theater.
3. THE DESIGN, JEWELRY AND FASHION ROUTE
Readers interested in couture and interiors should give themselves time for the decorative arts and palace rooms.
The Napoleon III Apartments are an education in maximalism: gilding, chandeliers, upholstery, ornament, pattern and ceremonial excess. They demonstrate how an interior can manufacture authority before anybody in the room says a word.
Then visit the Galerie d’Apollon.
Its history connects royal imagery, architecture, decorative arts and French artistic ambition; the space was developed under Louis XIV and later completed in the 19th century, including a major ceiling painting by Eugène Delacroix.
For fashion designers, photographers and set designers, these aren’t merely historic rooms.
They are master classes in visual hierarchy.
Where does the eye go first?
What does gold communicate?
How does scale make a human being feel?
How does clothing interact with an extravagant room?
Those questions remain completely contemporary.
4. GO TO EGYPT
One of the great pleasures of the Louvre is disappearing from Renaissance France and suddenly entering ancient Egypt.
The museum’s first dedicated Egyptian museum opened in 1827, under Jean-François Champollion, who had deciphered Egyptian hieroglyphs five years earlier. Today the department occupies two levels and contains thousands of objects representing almost 5,000 years of Egyptian history.
Begin with the monumental Great Sphinx of Tanis.
Then explore everyday objects.
Jewelry. Furniture. Clothing. Writing. Religious objects. Sarcophagi.
For designers, those everyday objects can be just as inspiring as famous statues.
Great civilizations reveal themselves through the things people lived with.
5. SEE A MORE GLOBAL LOUVRE
There is also something new for returning visitors.
The Louvre’s Gallery of Five Continents, opened in its present form in 2025, brings objects from multiple French public collections into dialogue across cultures and eras. Works represent artistic traditions from Africa, Asia, Oceania, the Americas and Europe, including an exceptional loan from Nigeria.
For creative people, this is especially valuable.
Art history becomes far more interesting once we stop imagining civilizations as isolated boxes.
Ideas travel.
Materials travel.
People travel.
Beauty travels.
PRACTICAL ADVICE FOR VISITING IN 2026
If you’re visiting this summer, book before you go. From July 1 through August 31, 2026, reservations are required, and the museum recommends time-stamped tickets generally to control admission during busy periods.
Current general admission is €22 for EEA residents/citizens and €32 for non-EEA visitors, with free admission available to qualifying groups including visitors under 18 and certain EEA residents under 26. Check your eligibility before buying.
The museum is currently open 9 a.m.–6 p.m. Monday, Thursday, Saturday and Sunday; 9 a.m.–9 p.m. Wednesday and Friday; and closed Tuesday. Final admission is one hour before closing, and galleries begin clearing 30 minutes before closing.
Our choice? Wednesday or Friday evening.
A museum changes character at night.
The crowds often feel different, the windows darken, the palace becomes more theatrical, and suddenly you remember that these galleries existed long before electric light.
MORE BEAUX HOMMES TIPS
Book an early slot or use a late-night opening. Peak midday hours can make the famous galleries exhausting. The current Wednesday and Friday evening schedule gives you another option.
Download the map before arriving. The Louvre consists of the Denon, Sully and Richelieu wings, and navigation can become part of the adventure.
Pick ten things, not one hundred. Give yourself permission to spend ten minutes with one sculpture.
Wear excellent shoes. This is not the day for fashion that cannot survive marble floors.
Take photographs—but also stop photographing. Give yourself periods when the phone stays away.
Look behind you. Some of the museum’s greatest visual surprises happen when you turn around.
Look up. Ceilings matter at the Louvre.
Use the architecture as inspiration. Doors, staircases, moldings, floors, window views and gallery transitions can teach a designer almost as much as the collection.
Consider the official visitor trails. The Louvre offers thematic, step-by-step routes for visitors who want a manageable itinerary instead of wandering randomly.
Check entrances before leaving your hotel. The Pyramid is the principal entrance; ticketed visitors can also use entrances such as the Carrousel and, when operating under the appropriate conditions, Porte des Lions. The Louvre advises checking its entrance map because access arrangements can vary.
AFTER THE MUSEUM
Do not immediately descend into the Métro.
Walk.
Cross into the Tuileries Garden, which the Louvre has managed since 2005. The garden itself contains sculpture spanning centuries, including works associated with artists such as Rodin, Dubuffet and Louise Bourgeois.
Then continue toward Place de la Concorde—or turn back toward the Seine.
Sit somewhere.
Have coffee, wine or dinner.
Talk about the work you disliked as much as the work you loved.
Museums become useful to creative people when the experience continues after leaving the building.
WHAT THE LOUVRE CAN TEACH AN ARTIST
The Louvre teaches us that definitions of beauty change.
The muscular male body admired by an ancient sculptor is not identical to the body celebrated by Renaissance painters, 19th-century academies, contemporary fashion photographers or modern bodybuilding culture.
And yet something travels across those centuries.
People remain fascinated by posture.
Skin.
Fabric.
Strength.
Vulnerability.
Youth.
Age.
Sex.
Death.
Power.
Love.
The sacred.
The erotic.
The heroic.
The strange.
That is why artists should visit museums even when their work is aggressively contemporary.
You do not go to copy the past.
You go to discover the conversations that started before you arrived.
And then you decide what you want to add.
HAPPY 233rd, LOUVRE
On August 10, 1793, somebody walked into the newly opened museum who had never before possessed a royal collection.
Two hundred and thirty-three years later, people from around the world continue walking through those galleries.
Kings are gone.
Empires are gone.
Fashions have changed.
Bodies have changed.
Paris has changed.
But people are still gathering in front of beautiful things and asking the same extraordinary question:
Why does this move me?
For BEAUX HOMMES, that may be the most important reason to visit the Louvre at all.
Go for the Mona Lisa. Stay for everything you didn’t know you needed to see.