Louvre Museum – Egyptian Antiquities Department (Paris, France)

Posted on 24 August, 2015 by Benjie Layug — 1 Comment ↓

Egyptian Antiquities Department – crowds gathered around a statue of Horus

After viewing the paintings of Italian and French masters at the Denon Wing, Jandy and I proceeded to the underground level of the Sully Wing to visit the Egyptian Antiquities Department, passing the Winged Victory of Samothrace (190 BC) statue and the excavated and preserved remains of the medieval fortress and moat of the Louvre.

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Guardian Lion at the Entrance to a Chapel of the Serapeum of Saqqara

A numbers of visitors to the Louvre come with the sole aim of visiting this department and it would be a real pity if we did not to spend at least one hour here.

Set for protection of the mummy

The Egyptian Antiquities collection of the Louvre, the second biggest in the world after the Cairo Museum, comprises over 50,000 pieces, includes artifacts from the Nile civilizations which date from 4,000 BC to the 4th century AD. The collection overviews Egyptian life spanning Ancient Egypt, the Middle Kingdom, the New Kingdom, Coptic art, and the Roman, Ptolemaic, and Byzantine periods.

Funerary servants

The department’s origins lie in the royal collection, but it was augmented by Napoleon’s 1798 expeditionary trip with Dominique Vivant, the future director of the Louvre. After Jean-François Champollion translated the Rosetta Stone, Charles X decreed that an Egyptian Antiquities department be created.

Fragment of Statue of Ramses II

Champollion advised the purchase of 7,000 works from the three its continued via acquisitions by Auguste Mariette, founder of the Egyptian Museum in Cairo. Mariette, after excavations at Memphis, sent back crates of archaeological finds including The Seated Scribe.

Magic protection, amulets, steles of Horus

In 1997, during the Grand Louvre renovation project, this huge collection was distributed on two different floors in what is now called the Sully Wing at the east end of the Louvre.

Sphinx of Tanis guarding entrance

Guarded by the Great Sphinx of Tanis (c. 2000 BC), this department now fills 30 large rooms. Holdings include art, papyrus scrolls, mummies, tools, clothing, jewelry, games, musical instruments and weapons.

Canopes (Vases)

The 19 rooms on the ground floor include two in the basement for particularly heavy exhibits (another reason they are at ground level is that there are pedestrian entrances to the courtyard). As the heaviest objects had to remain on the ground floor, it was impossible to arrange the works by period.

Sarcophagus Room (Room 14)

Instead, they are organized into a “thematic circuit” centered on the major aspects of Egyptian civilization (i.e. the daily life in Ancient Egypt), using authentic relics and artworks to illustrate and explain the topics of agriculture, hunting, fishing, animal husbandry, writing, arts and crafts, domestic life, temples, funeral rites and gods in ancient Egypt. The ground floor includes the Temple Room (Room 12) and the Sarcophagus Room (Room 14).

Room 3

Room 3 has models, found in graves, that show people rowing on the Nile River or poling through shallow water. The models were perhaps intended to provide transportation in the afterlife for the person who had died.

Model of a funeral boat

Room 11 contains a row of six of the sphinxes which were set up, in the 4th or 3rd century BC, along the aisle leading to the temple Sérapéum de Saqqara in Egypt. In 1851, these were discovered and excavated out of the sand by workers under the direction of Auguste Mariette.

A row of 6 sphinxes in Room 11

Later, in 1869, Mariette was asked to suggest a plot for an opera about ancient Egypt, and his idea was accepted as the basis for the opera Aida by Giuseppe Verdi.

Naos Housing a Statue of Osiris

The large Temple Room (Room 12), divided into 4 sections, shows the remains of sanctuaries from various sites and all epochs of ancient Egyptian history. It gives us an idea of the structure and function of a temple and the ceremonies that took place there.

The large Temple Room (Room 12)

After visiting the 12 densely packed rooms of the thematic tour of ancient Egypt, we went down a long staircase (there’s also an elevator for people with restricted mobility) that lead down to the basement.

Room 13

Here, Room 13 displays the huge, extremely heavy red granite royal tomb of pharaoh Ramses III, who ruled from 1186–1155 BC. This room is also identified as the crypt of the god Osiris.

The pink granite cartouche-shaped tomb, at Room 13, once contained the nest of coffins of Pharaoh Ramesses III.

Rooms 18 and 19 have an alphabetical guide to the ancient Egyptian gods, including their appearance, their attributes, their roles, all illustrated with authentic figurines made of metal, ceramics or stone. There is also an exhibit of mummified animals.

Statue of Bes, god of matrimony, as a dwarf

Statue of Bes, god of matrimony, as a misshapen nude dwarf with overly long arms, bowed legs, and a face combining leonine and human features

Rooms 20 to 30, on the first floor, on the other hand, is organized into a “chronological circuit” showing outstanding examples of Egyptian art, from the earliest to the latest periods of ancient Egypt. present a chronological approach, highlighting the different historical periods and the development of Egyptian art from 4000 BC to 400 AD.

The small wooden stele features an image of Lady Taperet praying to different aspects of the sun: Ra, the sun at its zenith, on one side; and Atum, the setting sun, on the other

Pieces from the ancient period include the Gebel el-Arak Knife from 3400 BC, the Head of King Djedefre and The Seated Scribe, its most famous artifact. Probably the most famous statue in the Egyptian collection of the Louvre, “The Seated Scribe” (c. 2620-2500 BC), in room 22 on the 1st floor, always impresses visitors. Its inlaid eyes are the most striking aspect of this sculpture. Nothing is known about the person portrayed

Well Painted Coffin of the Lady of Madjadiscovered in a cemetery in West Thebes overlooking the valley of Deir el-Medina, behind the hill of Qurnet Mourai

The highly decorated coffin of the Lady of Madja discovered in a cemetery in West Thebes overlooking the valley of Deir el-Medina, behind the hill of Qurnet Mourai

The Middle Kingdom art, known for its gold work and statues, moves from realism to idealization. This is exemplified by the schist statue of Amenemhatankh and the wooden Offering Bearer. The New Kingdom and Coptic Egyptian sections are deep, but the statue of the goddess Nephthys and the limestone depiction of the goddess Hathor demonstrate New Kingdom sentiment and wealth.

Troop of funerary servant figures

In Room 28 (Musee Charles X), the exhibits are about Egyptian Princes and courtiers in the period from 1295–1069 BC. However, its ceiling painting, by Horace Vernet (1789-1863), shows something completely different -Pope Julius II ordering Bramante, Michelangelo, and Raphael to build the Vatican and Saint Peter’s in Rome.

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Musee Charles X

In Room 29 (Musee Charles X), the exhibits are about the Third Middle Period of ancient Egypt, from about 1069–404 BC. Here the ceiling painting, L’Egypte sauvée par Joseph (Egypt saved by Joseph) by Alexandre-Denis Abel de Pujol (1785-1861), has to do with Egypt.

Fragment of a Statue of a Nubian

Louvre Museum: 75001 Paris, France. Tel: +33 1 40 20 50 50. Open daily, except Tuesdays and holidays, 9 AM- 6 PM (until 10 PM on Wednesday and Friday evenings).

The Louvre has three entrances: the main entrance at the pyramid, an entrance from the Carrousel du Louvre underground shopping mall, and an entrance at the Porte des Lions (near the western end of the Denon wing).

Admission is free, from October to March, on the first Sunday of every month. Still and video photography is permitted for private, noncommercial use only in the galleries housing the permanent collection.The use of flash or other means of artificial lighting is prohibited. Photography and filming are not permitted in the temporary exhibition galleries.

How To Get There: the Louvre can be reached via Metro lines 1 and 7, station Palais Royal – Musée du Louvre Métro or the Louvre-Rivoli stations. By bus, take No. 21, 24, 27, 39, 48, 68, 69, 72, 81, 95 as well as the touristic Paris l’Open Tour. By car, there is an underground parking reachable by Avenue du Général Lemonier, every day from 7 AM – 11 PM.

Louvre Museum – Charles X Museum (Paris, France)

Posted on 24 August, 2015 by Benjie Layug — 1 Comment ↓

Salle des Colonnes (Column Room) of Charles X Museum (Musee Charles X)

The Charles X Museum (Musee Charles X), located in a series of 9 inner rooms on the first floor (not the ground floor, but one flight up) of the southeast wing of the Cour Carrée, first housed the apartments of the reigning queen, next to the king’s pavilion. The western part is located in the wing built by Pierre Lescot, while the eastern part was built by Louis Le Vau.

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After the king left for the Palace of Versailles, the Academy of Architecture occupied this wing but, after the Revolution, the entire wing was used as housing and workshops for artists. Under Napoleon I, the development of this space, began by the architect Fontaine, was completed in 1819. It had 4 rooms on each side of the Columns room located in the Arts pavilion. Between 1819 and 1827, these rooms were used for exhibitions of the products of industry and the Salon of living artists.

Room 30

The increase in the collections of the Louvre museum required new exhibition spaces and King Charles X commissioned some of the leading architects (including Fontaine) and painters of his day to redesign and redecorate the suites. Each room turned out to be quite lavish and impressive, with mahogany-veneered glass cabinets (by Jacob Desmalter), a fireplace topped with a mirror and a painted ceiling whose theme recalls the country whose works are exhibited in the room. On December 15, 1827, the museum was inaugurated by King Charles X.

The exhibits have been rearranged several times since then but, today, the first four rooms of the Musée Charles X are still used to display a small part of the Louvre’s huge collection of Egyptian and Greco-Roman antiquities. During our visit to the museum, we admired the ceiling decoration and the showcases which offer a rare testimony of a 19th century museography.

Egyptian Antiquities Department

Room 28, the second room of the Musée Charles X, has the ceiling painting “Pope Iulius II Orders the Works of Vatican and Saint-Peter Basilica” by Horace Vernet (1789-1863) which shows Pope Julius II ordering Bramante, Michelangelo and Raphael to build the Vatican and St. Peter’s Basilica in Rome. Its exhibits are about Egyptian princes and courtiers in the period from 1295–1069 BC.

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Study and Genius Unveiling Ancient Egypt to Greece (1826, François-Edouard Picot)

In Room 29, the ceiling painting has to do with Egypt – “Egypt saved by Joseph” (L’Egypte sauvée par Joseph) by Alexandre-Denis Abel de Pujol (1785-1861). The exhibits are about the Third Middle Period of ancient Egypt, from about 1069–404 BC.. In Room 30 is Study and Genius Unveil the Antique Egypt to the Greece‎.(by François-Édouard Picot) while in Room 27 is The Genius of France Animates the Arts and Protects Humanity.

The crossing between Greek and Egyptian Antiquities is the Column Room of the Pavillon des Arts. On the ceiling are The Time raises Truth to the throne of Wisdom and Real Glory is supported by Virtue.

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Cybele protects from Vesuvius the towns of Stabies, Herculanum and Pompei

Rooms 35 – 37 display Greek terracotta figurines. The ceiling paintings found here are The Apotheosis of Homer by Ingres‎ (Room 35), Vesuvius Receiving from Jupiter the Fire Which Will Consume Herculanum, Pompei and Stabies‎ (Room 36) and Nymphs of Parthenope (Napoli) Bring Far From Home Their Penates to the Banks of Seine River‎ (Room 37). In Room 38 is Cybele protects from the Vesuvius the towns of Stabies, Herculanum and Pompei‎.

Real Glory is Supported by Virtue (Antoine-Jean Gros)

Louvre Museum: 75001 Paris, France. Tel: +33 1 40 20 50 50. Open daily, except Tuesdays and holidays, 9 AM- 6 PM (until 10 PM on Wednesday and Friday evenings).

Louvre Museum – Greek, Etruscan and Roman Department (Paris, France)

Posted on 24 August, 2015 by Benjie Layug — Leave a reply

The Department of Greek, Etruscan and Roman Antiquities, one of the museum’s oldest, is home to a collection of artworks representing the Greek, Etruscan, and Roman civilizations, spanning from the Cycladic Period to the decline of the Roman Empire.

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Crowds gathered in front of the ca. 190 BC Winged Victory of Samothrace, a magnificent Hellenistic statue that may have commemorated a naval victory, possibly by a fleet from Rhodes in the 2nd century BC. Excavations on the island of Samothrace, where it was found in 1863, revealed that it originally stood on the prow of a grey marble ship, at the center of an ornamental fountain. It depicts the winged Hellenistic goddess Nike. During World War II, this masterpiece, along with the Mona Lisa, Slaves by Michelangelo and the Venus de Milo sculpture were shifted to Château de Valençay.

The best artists from the reign of Charles X (Jean-Auguste-Dominique ngres, Vernet, Fragonard, etc.) amazingly combined palace décor from 1827 with antiquities collections to evoke Homer, Pompeii and Herculaneum. The Winged Victory of Samothrace welcomed Jandy and I as well as other visitors, dazzling us with its triumphant silhouette, as we appreciated its size from the top of the steps of the Daru staircase.

The author (right)

The exhibits, housed on the first floor of the Denon Wing (part of it also seen on the mezzanine) and part of the Sully Wing, are themed and chronological, with the Greek works separated from the Roman and Etruscan antiquities.

Here’s the historical timeline of the museum:

In 1793, the department was formed around the appropriated former royal art collections (some of which was acquired under Francis I), initially focused on marble sculptures.
During the French Revolution, it was further enriched by property seized
During the Napoleonic Wars, works such as the Apollo Belvedere
In 1800, the museum was installed in the summer apartments of Anne of Austria.
In the 19th century, works including vases from the Durand collection and bronzes such as the Borghese Vase from the Bibliothèque Nationale, were acquired by the Louvre.
In 1807, the purchase of over five hundred marble sculptures from the Borghese collection required the refurbishment of the Salle des Cariatides, the ground floor of the Pavillon du Roi, and the queen’s winter apartments.
In 1815, after the return of the works to Italy (including the Apollo Belvedere), Ennio Quirino Visconti (1751-1818), the Louvre’s first curator of antiquities, adopted an active acquisitions policy.
In 1818, the Tochon collection was purchased enriching, with archaeological objects, the Louvre’s collection which mostly comprised of marble sculptures. This was followed by that of Durand (1825-1836).
In 1821, the Venus de Milo (a sculpture of Aphrodite with her arms missing discovered on the Greek island of Milos, in the Cyclades Archipelago) entered the museum. It was first offered to Louis XVIII by the Marquis de Rivière, after which the monarchy donated it to the Louvre.
in 1827, the Musée Charles X, on the first floor of the Louvre palace, was opened.
In 1861, when the Campana collection was acquired, its vases were installed on the first floor of the Cour Carrée’s south wing, in a gallery parallel to the Musée Charles X.
During the second half of the 19th century, as a result of archaeological expeditions, the museum acquired many objects from North Africa and the Ottoman Empire.
In 1884, The Winged Victory of Samothrace, discovered by Champoiseau in 1863, was placed at the top of the Daru staircase. Ancient Greek sculpture then came to the fore with the Kore of Samos, the Rampin Head, the Lady of Auxerre, and the Tanagra figurines of Boeotia.
In the early 20th century, it was decided to renovate the department completely, and this project was carried out in various stages.
In 1934, the museum of sculpture inaugurated by Napoleon was dismantled, and chronological classification was established. A section devoted to Greek art, centered on the sculptures in the queen’s winter apartments, the Salle de Diane, and the Salle des Cariatides, was opened on the ground floor; and a Roman art section was created around the former summer apartments of Anne of Austria.
In the postwar period, the first floor was reorganized. Bronzes were displayed in the Salle Lacaze, Etruscan art in the Salle Henri II, and Roman silverware and frescoes in the Salle des Bijoux.
In 1980, an ambitious reorganization plan was initiated resulting in the present arrangement of the department. The Etruscan collections were displayed on the ground floor (between the Cour du Sphinx and the Petite Galerie), and Roman sculptures moved to the Petite Galerie and the Salle d’Auguste.
In the 1990s, after the inauguration of the Louvre pyramid, a new organizational project was launched, initially concerning the Greek art collection and the first-floor rooms (1997-2010).
In 1997, the Pre-Classical Greek gallery opened, supplemented by a gallery dedicated to Greek epigraphy, a room representing the Severe style, and a new room (under the Winged Victory staircase) devoted to the Temple of Zeus at Olympia. As a result, a new entrance to the department was created, combining artworks representing a wide range of materials and techniques.
The same year saw other changes, with the renovation of the Galerie Daru, and the refurbishment of the first floor: silverware was moved to the Salle Henri II, glassware to the former jewelry room, terracotta figurines and reliefs took over half the former Musée Charles X, and the bronze room and Galerie Campana were fully renovated.
In 2004, the Salle du Manège was opened That same year, a remarkable life-sized horse’s head, a fragment from an Archaic Greek sculpture dating from the 6th century BC., was acquired.
In 2006, the Salle de Diane was rearranged to display the Parthenon marbles.
In July 2010, the renovation of the Greek art section was finalized with the opening of rooms dedicated to classical Greek and Hellenistic art, and a new home for the Venus de Milo.

Salle du Manège

The department illustrates the art of a vast area encompassing Greece, Italy, and the whole of the Mediterranean Basin, and spans the period from Neolithic times (4th millennium BC) to the 6th century.

The Louvre collection counts 2700 vases on display in new and elegant showcases. It includes a large number of Greek vases of all shapes such as amphora, krater, hydria, long shaped lekythos, cups and some interesting rythons with a head of a donkey. In Room 43 is a unique oenochoe (wine jug) in the form of a head from a black slave.

Niobid Krater. Ca. 470 to 450 BC., it shows the god Apollo and his sister Artemis killing the children of Niobe who were collectively called the Niobids.

Masterpieces from the Hellenistic Era include the Winged Victory of Samothrace (190 BC) and the Venus de Milo (Room 16 on the ground floor of the Pavillon du Roi, presented to Louis XVIII by the Marquis de Rivière in 1821), symbolic of Classical art. The latter, the highlight of the museum, stands at the staircase linking the Denon and Sully wings.

Jewelry and pieces, such as the limestone Lady of Auxerre (from 640 BC) and the cylindrical Hera of Samos (circa 570–560 BC.), demonstrate the archaic.

Daru Gallery

The Galerie Daru (Room 406), which formed part of Napoleon III’s “New Louvre,” was originally intended as a sculpture gallery for the annual Paris Salon. It now displays Greek and Roman antiquities, notably the celebrated Borghese Gladiator which exemplifies increased focus on the human form after the 4th century BC.

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Borghese Gladiator (Daru Gallery), created at Ephesus about 100 BC, is a life-size, Hellenistic marble sculpture portraying a swordsman.

An outstanding collection of more than one thousand Greek potteries are displayed at the long Galerie Campana.

Roman Art (Julio-Claudian Period I, Between 1655 and 1658), at Room 410, Ground Floor, Denon Wing, houses the Roman Department. Louis Le Vau transformed Anne of Austria’s summer apartments. The new decoration featured paintings by Giovanni Francesco Romanelli and stucco work by sculptor Michel Angier. The apartments became a gallery of antiquities in 1799.

Paralleling the Seine River are galleries that display much of the museum’s Roman sculpture. Roman portraiture, representative of that genre, include the portraits of Agrippa and Annius Verus. Among the bronzes is the Greek Apollo of Piombino.

Bronze Room (Salles des Bronzes)

The Bronze Room (Salle des Bronzes, Room 32, 1st Floor, Sully Wing), built between 1551 and 1553 by the architect Pierre Lescot, was designed as the centerpiece of the 16th-century additions to the Louvre.

Between 1936 and 1938, it was transformed by Albert Ferran and the gallery now houses the museum’s collection of more than 1,000 pieces of ancient art created from bronze (helmets, Hellenic rings, the crown of laurel in gold, etc.), as well as other precious metals.

The Cy Twombly Ceiling

Standing out is Cy Twombly’s 344 sq. m. (3700 sq. ft.) ceiling mural created in 2010. Alongside German Anselm Kiefer and Frenchman Francois Morellet, Twombly is the third artist and the first American to ever paint a permanent modern decorative work for the Louvre. Along the edges are white strips that contain the names (in Greek) of seven renowned Greek sculptors from the Classic period.

The first-floor Salle des Sept Cheminées, formerly the King’s chamber (above the Venus de Milo room), is devoted to Italic and Etruscan art.

The completely refurbished Rooms 7-17 (open to the public since July 7, 2010), at the Sully Wing, are devoted to the classical Greek and Hellenistic art while Rooms 35 – 37 (Musée Charles X) displays Greek terracotta figurines arranged chronologically, geographically and thematically.

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Musee Charles X

The terracotta figures (“Tanagra figurines”) date from the Archaic, Pre-Classical Hellenistic and Roman periods. It includes the small and quite elegant “Victory with Wings” (from 190 BC.).

Terra cotta figurines

The Salle des Caryatids, at Room 348, is located on the ground floor of Pierre Lescot’s 16th-century Renaissance wing. This room takes its name from the four female figures sculpted by Jean Goujon in 1550 to support the musicians’ gallery. Today, it houses Roman copies of Greek originals long since disappeared.

Louvre Museum: 75001 Paris, France. Tel: +33 1 40 20 50 50. Open daily, except Tuesdays and holidays, 9 AM- 6 PM (until 10 PM on Wednesday and Friday evenings).

Louvre Museum – Apollo Gallery (Paris, France)

Posted on 24 August, 2015 by Benjie Layug — Leave a reply

Apollo Gallery (Galerie d’Apollon)

The iconic Galerie d’Apollon (Apollo Gallery), home to some of the Louvre’s most precious historical collections, is famous for its high vaulted ceilings with painted decorations. Originally called the ‘Petite Galerie’ of the Louvre, this room was decorated, according to designs by Martin Fréminet for Henri IV of France, by the artists of the Second School of Fontainebleau, most notably Toussaint Dubreuil, Jacob Bunel and his wife Marguerite Bahuche.

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Gallery entrance

Originally designed as a reception hall, this was the first Royal Gallery for Louis XIV and served as a model for the Hall of Mirrors of the Palace of Versailles. The gallery, left incomplete during the reign of Louis XIV, was filled with paintings by members of the Royal Academy of Painting and Sculpture in the 18th century. With a total surface area of 600 sq. m., it is 61.34 m. long, 15 m. high and was built over 350 years ago and decorated over the course of two centuries.

Here is the historical timeline of this room:

On February 6, 1661, a fire destroyed much of this small gallery and the young Louis XIV ordered the reconstruction of this part of the Louvre as a reception hall, in line with the fashion of palaces and noble houses at that time.
Between 1661 and 1663, architectural work was entrusted to architect Louis Le Vau who carried out reconstruction activities. The sculptor François Girardon was responsible for the stucco sculptures.
From 1663–1677, interior decoration was implemented by Charles Le Brun, the first painter to Louis XIV, who was assigned responsibility by Colbert.
In 1692, the academy of painting and sculpture was installed at the Louvre which encouraged young artists to finish the room with “reception” or “masterpieces.”
From 1766–1781, the gallery was completed under the supervision of six academics.
From 1848–1851, complex restoration work was done by architect Félix Duban, with painting The Race of Apollo by Eugène Delacroix, Aurore by Muller and Triumph of the Earth or Cybele by Joseph Guichard.
From 1999–2004, restoration activities were carried out by the French restoration service of historical monuments.

As part of the Louvre, this unique masterpiece is both a national and World Heritage Site. A witness to 200 years of art history, it showcases 105 artworks (41 paintings, 36 sculpture groups made up of 118 sculptures and 28 tapestries) along the vaulted ceiling and frescoed walls.

The French Crown Jewels

Dozens of French artists contributed to this exceptional interior. Le Brun authored three large paintings, designing a painted and sculpted decor on the theme of the sun and its movement through space (earth, water and continents) and time (zodiac).

Fall of Icarus (Merry-Joesph Blondel)

The Sun King Louis XIV is glorified by the myth of the sun god Apollo, also evoked by the procession of the Muses. An idyllic vision of the universe in harmony, governed by Apollo, is offered by the overall program. The central section of the ceiling, left blank since Le Brun had worked on the room, was adorned by Eugène Delacroix who thus created the spectacular Apollo Slays the Python.

As of 1663, the stuccoes were made by François Girardon, followed by the Gaspard brothers, Balthasar Marsy, and Thomas Regnaudin, resulting in the majestic, dynamic ensemble we see today.

Since 1861, the gallery has housed Louis XIV’s collection of hardstone vessels in large gilt-wood display tables and vitrines, and those along the walls and under the windows. In 1887, it was joined by the French Crown Jewels, the legacy of centuries of monarchs who successively owned them and had them remounted to their liking. The jewels are presented in custom-made display cases created in the 19th century.

Some of the most precious artworks in the Louvre, this inalienable collection of jewels were initially assembled by Françis I in 1532, grew under Louis XIV and reached its peak under Louis XV. During the French Revolution, the items were dispersed but they were brought back together by Napoleon I. In 1887, however, the French State unfortunately decided to sell almost the entire collection. Luckily, the “Regent,” a white diamond “the size of a Reine Claude plum” (Saint-Simon) was not included in the auction. Acquired by Louis XV, it is the largest of its kind known to exist in Europe.

Display cases housing the French Crown Jewels

The remaining 23 pieces of jewels and precious stones held by the Louvre are now displayed in three cases in the center of the gallery and grouped by period: pre-Revolution (including the “Regent” and “Sancy” diamonds, which adorned the crown used at the coronation of King Louis XV in 1722), the First French Empire, the Bourbon Restoration, the July Monarchy and the Second Empire (including what remains of Empress Eugénie’s jewelry sets). Several protective cases designed to hold the items are also presented nearby.

Crown of Louis XV

NOTE:

Following the completion of works that began in March 2019, the Galerie d’Apollon reopened. Improvements were made to both the room itself and the presentation of the artworks held within with three new display cases created for the French Crown Jewels (which are now shown together), offering a complete overview of their history.

Several changes were also made in the presentation of Louis XIV’s collection of hardstone vessels. For informational purposes, further examples have been added along with a centerpiece given to Napoleon I by Charles IV of Spain, part of another artwork of royal origin and made of an equally rich variety of materials.

Conservation work was also carried out on the gallery’s décor, returning the room to its former glory. The paintings and stuccoes, along with the tapestries (masterpieces commissioned from the Gobelins manufactory by Félix Duban and put in place in 1852), were dusted and new lighting and an improved security system were installed. A second entrance, making the gallery accessible by both the Rotonde d’Apollon and the Salon Carré, was also opened.

Emerald and Diamond Tiara made for the Duchesse d’Angouleme

Louvre Museum: 75001 Paris, France. Tel: +33 1 40 20 50 50. Open daily, except Tuesdays and holidays, 9 AM- 6 PM (until 10 PM on Wednesday and Friday evenings).

The Louvre has three entrances: the main entrance at the pyramid, an entrance from the Carrousel du Louvre underground shopping mall, and an entrance at the Porte des Lions (near the western end of the Denon wing).

Louvre Museum – Mollien Room (Paris, France)

Posted on 24 August, 2015 by Benjie Layug — Leave a reply

The author beside the gigantic painting Napoleon on the Battlefield of Eylau (Antoine-Jean Gros)

Like the Daru Room (Salle Daru), the well-lit and spacious Mollien Room (Salle Mollien), named after Treasury Minister François-Nicolas Mollien (1758-1850), was created and decorated in 1863 (when the Louvre collection officially became Musee Napoleon III) for the imperial museum, as conveyed by its wine red and gold décor (to form an appropriate background for the French paintings).

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Liberty Leading the People (French: La Liberté guidant le peuple), painted by Eugène Delacroix in the autumn of 1830, commemorates the July Revolution of 1830, which toppled King Charles X of France. A woman personifying the concept and the goddess of Liberty leads the people forward over the bodies of the fallen, holding the the tricolor flag of the French Revolution (France’s national flag) in one hand and brandishing a bayoneted musket with the other. The figure of Liberty, known as Marianne, is also viewed as a symbol of France and the French Republic.

The Death of Sardanapal (Eugene Delacroix)

It houses large 19^th century, large scale French Neo-Classical and Romantic paintings such as Theodore Gericault’s monumental “The Raft of the Medusa” (between 1818 and 1819, his only history painting) and Eugene Delacroix’s generation-defining “Liberty Leading the People” (1830) and “The Death of Sardanapalus.”

The Massacre at Chios (Eugene Delacroix)

Joachim Murat (Antoine-Jean Gros)

NOTE:

On January 29, 2019, Gros’s ultimate masterpiece with a mysterious origin, David Playing the Harp for King Saul, acquired at the Bergé auction by the Department of Paintings with the support of the Société des Amis du Louvre, was hung in the Salle Mollien.

The Souliot Women (Ary Scheffer)

The Women of Algiers (Eugene Delacroix)

Salle Mollien: Room 700, First Floor, Denon Wing, Louvre, Paris, France. Tel: +33 1 40 20 50 50. Open daily, except Tuesdays and holidays, 9 AM- 6 PM (until 10 PM on Wednesday and Friday evenings).

Admission is free, from October to March, on the first Sunday of every month. Still and video photography is permitted for private, noncommercial use only in the galleries housing the permanent collection. The use of flash or other means of artificial lighting is prohibited. Photography and filming are not permitted in the temporary exhibition galleries.

Louvre Museum – Daru Room (Paris, France)

Posted on 24 August, 2015 by Benjie Layug — Leave a reply

Daru Room

Created for the imperial museum in 1863, this gallery was decorated in red and gold (the French imperial colors) by the painter Alexandre Dominique Denuelle for the imperial museum.

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Portrait of Madame Recamier (Jacques Louis-David)

Grande Odalisque (also known asUne Odalisque or La Grande Odalisque), an oil painting by Jean Auguste Dominique Ingres, was commissioned by Napoleon’s sister, Queen Caroline Murat of Naples, and finished in 1814. It depicts a reclining figure of an odalisque, or concubine, in languid pose as seen from behind with distorted proportions. When it was first shown, it attracted wide criticism for the elongated proportions and lack of anatomical realism.

The Intervention of the Sabine Women, a 1799 painting by the French painter Jacques-Louis David, shows a legendary episode following the abduction of the Sabine women by the founding generation of Rome. The painting depicts Hersilia, Romulus’s wife and the daughter of Titus Tatius, leader of the Sabines. She is seen rushing between her husband and her father and placing her babies between them. A vigorous Romulus prepares to strike a half-retreating Tatius with his spear, but hesitates.

Today, it devoted to large-scale Neo-Classical paintings by French painters or related to French history, notably Jacques-Louis David‘s masterpiece The Coronation of the Napoleon and The Coronation of Empress Joséphine.

The Coronation of Napoleon (Jacques Louis-David)

The imposing, 10 m. (33 ft) wide and 6 m. (20 ft.) high Coronation of Napoleon, a painting completed in 1807 by Jacques-Louis David as the official painter of Napoleon, depicts the crowning and the coronation that took place at Notre-Dame de Paris, Napoleon’s way to make it clear that he was a son of the Revolution.

Oath of the Horatii (Jacques Louis-David)

Oath of the Horatii, a large painting by the French artist Jacques-Louis David painted in 1784, immediately became a huge success with critics and the public, and remains one of the best known paintings in the Neoclassical style of art. It depicts a scene from a Roman legend about a dispute between two warring cities, Rome and Alba Longa. The painting increased David’s fame, allowing him to take on his own students.

The room contains, amongst other things, large-scale French Neo-Classical paintings by Francois Gérard, Anne-Louis Girodet de Roussy-Trioson, Antoine-Jean Gros and Charles-François-Prosper Guérin.

Oedipus and the Sphinx (Jean Auguste Dominique Ingres)

Oedipus Explaining the Enigma of the Sphinx, an oil painting by Jean Auguste Dominique Ingres (1808), was initially a figure study that made up one of Ingres’s “dispatches from Rome.” Then, almost twenty years later, Ingres enlarged it to make a history painting and in so doing toned down the archaism of the earlier canvas.

Pygmalion & Galatéa (Anne-Louis Girodet)

The Empress Josephine (Pierre-Paul Prudh’on)

Salle Daru: Room 75, First Floor, Denon Wing, Louvre, Paris75001, France. Tel: +33 1 40 20 50 50. Open daily, except Tuesdays and holidays, 9 AM- 6 PM (until 10 PM on Wednesday and Friday evenings).

Admission is free, from October to March, on the first Sunday of every month. Still and video photography is permitted for private, noncommercial use only in the galleries housing the permanent collection. The use of flash or other means of artificial lighting is prohibited. Photography and filming are not permitted in the temporary exhibition galleries.

Louvre Museum – Daru Gallery (Paris, France)

Posted on 24 August, 2015 by Benjie Layug — Leave a reply

Daru Gallery (Galerie Daru)

The Daru Gallery (Galerie Daru), which formed part of Napoleon III‘s “New Louvre,” was originally intended as a sculpture gallery for the annual Paris Salon.

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Daru Staircase

It now receives and displays Greek and Roman antiquities from the Borghese collections, notably the celebrated Borghese Gladiator which exemplifies increased focus on the human form after the 4th century BC., and the Borghese Vase, bought by Napoleon I from his brother-in-law Camille Borghese.

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Mercury Abducting Psyche (Adriaen de Vries)

It also houses large nineteenth-century French works by the Romantics Antoine-Jean Gros, Theodore Géricault, and Eugene Delacroix.

Like the one opposite, the former Mollien Gallery (currently the Michelangelo Gallery), the Daru Gallery is on the ground floor of the buildings built on the south side of the new buildings built for Napoleon III between 1854 and 1857.

Built for the exhibition of the Salon’s sculptures, these two galleries take the form of the Salle des Cariatides, one of the oldest rooms in the Louvre Palace.

The gallery, decorated between 1861 and 1862, is located between the entrance to the Denon Pavilion and gives access to the Daru Staircase (completed in 1930), dominated by the Winged Victory of Samothrace.

Michelangelo’s Dying Slave

Louvre Museum: 75001 Paris, France. Tel: +33 1 40 20 50 50. Open daily, except Tuesdays and holidays, 9 AM- 6 PM (until 10 PM on Wednesday and Friday evenings).

Admission is free, from October to March, on the first Sunday of every month. Still and video photography is permitted for private, noncommercial use only in the galleries housing the permanent collection. The use of flash or other means of artificial lighting is prohibited. Photography and filming are not permitted in the temporary exhibition galleries.

Louvre Museum – Painting Collection (Paris, France)

Posted on 24 August, 2015 by Benjie Layug — 1 Comment ↓

Jandy, Grace, Manny and Cheska walking along the Grand Gallery (Grande Galerie), First Floor, Denon Wing

Our first stop, upon the museum’s opening, was the Painting Collection which has more than 7,500 works, from the 13th century to 1848. Nearly two-thirds are by French artists while more than 1,200 are Northern European. The French and Northern European works are in the Richelieu Wing and Cour Carrée while the Spanish and Italian paintings are on the first floor of the Denon Wing.

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The Italian paintings compose most of the remnants of Francis I and Louis XIV’s collections, others are unreturned artwork from the Napoleonic Era, and some were bought. The collection began with Francis I, who acquired works from Italian masters such as Raphael, Michelangelo and several works of Giambattista Pittoni .

Exemplifying the French School are the early Avignon Pietà of Enguerr and Quarton; the anonymous painting of King Jean le Bon (c.1360), possibly the oldest independent portrait in Western painting to survive from the post Classical era; Hyacinthe Rigaud‘s Louis XIV; Jacques-Louis David‘s The Coronation of Napoleon; and Eugène Delacroix‘s Liberty Leading the People.

Daru Room (SalleDaru)

The notable Italian holdings, particularly the Renaissance collection, include works by Andrea Mantegna and Giovanni Bellini‘s Calvarys, which reflect realism and detail “meant to depict the significant events of a greater spiritual world.” The High Renaissance collection includes works of Leonardo da Vinci, Caravaggio and, from 16th century Venice, Titian‘s Le Concert Champetre, The Entombment and The Crowning with Thorns.

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Some of the best known paintings of the museum have been digitized by the French Center for Research and Restoration of the Museums of France.

Salle Boucher (France) – Mid-18^th century works of Francois Boucher, the favorite painter of the Marquise de Pompadour, Louis XV’s mistress. Room 927, Second Floor, Sully Wing
Salle Vien (France) – Works of Joseph-Marie Vien and the antiquarian the Comte de Caylus, pioneers of Neoclassicism in France. Room 934, Second Floor, Sully Wing
Carlos Besteigui Collection – devoted to the donation made n 1942 by Carlos de Beistegui (Mexico, 1863–Biarritz, 1953), it consists chiefly of portraits, and includes works by the 15th-century Burgundian Master, Hey, Rubens, van Dyck, Largillierre, Nattier, Drouias, Fragonard, Goya, David, Lawrence, Gérard, Ingres, Meissonnier, and Zuloaga. Room 901, Second Floor, Sully Wing
Salle Restout (France) – Works of Jean Restout, the leading religious painter of his day. Room 924, Second Floor, Sully Wing.
Painters of Louis XIV Room (France) – numerous decorative projects at Versailles and other royal residences, commissioned by Louis XIV and all overseen by Le Brun, who gathered a team of noted specialists and succeeded in rallying personalities such as Jouvenet and La Fosse to the cause. First Floor, Sully Wing
Charles Le Brun Room (France) – features enormous compositions of Charles Le Brun, royal painter to Louis XIV, illustrating the life of the king’s hero and model, Alexander the Great.
Room 914, Second Floor, Sully Wing
Salle Watteau (France) – features Watteau’s highly original art influenced by the French colorists, and also by his master, Claude Gillot, who introduced him to the fête galanteand scenes drawn from the theater. Room 917, Second Floor, Sully Wing
Salle des Etats (Mona Lisa room, Italy) – A new setting for Leonardo da Vinci’s Mona Lisa and Venetian Renaissance paintings. Room 711, First Floor, Denon Wing.
Salle Mollien (Romanticism, France) – houses large French Romantic paintings. Room 700, First Floor, Denon WingSalon Carré (Italy) – displays Italian paintings from the 12th to 15th centuries. Room 708, First Floor, Denon Wing
Grande Galerie (Italy) – houses collections of Italian paintings. Room 710, 712, 716, First Floor, Denon Wing
Salle Daru (Neoclassicism) – houses large-scale French Neoclassical paintings. Room 702, First Floor, Denon Wing
Galerie Médicis (Flanders – Rubens) – displays 24 monumental canvases, painted by Rubens between 1622 and 1625, originally housed in the Luxembourg palace, home of the Italian-born French queen Marie de Médici. Room 801 , Second Floor, Richelieu Wing
Salle Rembrandt (Holland – Rembrandt) – collection of Rembrandt’s paintings covering a wide range of subjects and periods, including a number of well-known self-portraits. Room 845, Second Floor, Richelieu Wing
Holland, Second Half of the 17th Century – late 17th century Dutch paintings represented by Johannes Vermeer, and contemporaries such as Pieter de Hooch, Ruisdael, and Ter Borch. Room 837, Second Floor, Richelieu Wing
Second School of Fontainebleau (France) – features the new decorative style of artists of the Second School of Fontainebleau. Room 824, Second Floor, Richelieu Wing
The Netherlands, 16th Century – features 16th-century Dutch painting, particularly that of the Antwerp school and the Romanists. Room 809, Second Floor, Richelieu Wing
The Netherlands, Second Half of the 16th Century – displays masterpieces of late 16th- and early-17th-century Northern and German Mannerism. Room 806, Second Floor, Richelieu Wing
Pays-Bas, Netherlands, First Half of the 16th Century – features works of Northern artists who assimilated Italian influences, but continued to work in the pictorial tradition established by the founders of the Dutch school of painting during the preceding century. Room 811, Second Floor, Richelieu Wing.

Louvre Museum: 75001 Paris, France. Tel: +33 1 40 20 50 50. Open daily, except Tuesdays and holidays, 9 AM- 6 PM (until 10 PM on Wednesday and Friday evenings).

Louvre Museum – Salon Carre (Paris, France)

Posted on 24 August, 2015 by Benjie Layug — Leave a reply

The magnificent skylit Baroque ceiling of Salon Carre

The Salon Carré (Square Salon), one of the most emblematic rooms in the Louvre Museum, was built by French Baroque architect Louis Le Vau at the east end of the Grand Gallery (Grande Galerie) after the fire of 1661. It links the Apollo Gallery with the Grand Gallery.

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Ceiling detail

Between 1667 and 1789, the French monarchy sponsored periodic exhibitions of works by members of the Académie Royale de Peinture et de Sculpture (Royal Academy of Painting and Sculpture) and, from 1725, the Salon Carré and nearby rooms in the Louvre were the setting for these exhibitions. The official French art exhibition in Paris took its name from the Salon Carré. In 1793, the Louvre’s first public museum opened here and, for many years, it housed exhibitions of contemporary art.

The author beside The Coronation of the Virgin, a 213 cm × 211 cm (84 in × 83 in) painting by the Italian early Renaissance master Fra Angelico, was executed around 1434-1435. The composition is based on the pyramidal structure of the steps and the figures of the Virgin and Christ.

On April 2, 1810, Napoleon I and Marie-Louise of Austria were married before God in a ‘chapel’ created by architects Charles Percier and Pierre-Francois-Leonard Fontaine out of the Salon Carré. In order to reach this large space usually given over the exhibition of paintings, the wedding procession and cortege had to walk all the way from the Tuileries Palace and down a great part of the Grande Galerie.

An excerpt from Fontaine’s Journal stated that Vivant Denon, the director of the Louvre, had been opposed to removal of the very large paintings in that gallery in order to make way for the two-level tribunes which were to be built to accommodate the congregation. However, the emperor, on hearing of this intransigence, “with animosity, gave the order for the paintings to be removed, and as for any which could not be removed, they should be burned”!

The threat was effective and the Salon Carré was emptied of its masterpieces and the tribunes built. Furthermore, an altar was erected facing the entrance to the gallery, topped with a large cross and six chased vermeil candlesticks made by Odiot. The walls were draped with gold embroidered hangings.

From 1848 up until World War I, the Salon Carré was used to display the Louvre’s masterpieces. The gallery now displays Italian paintings from the 12th to 15th centuries and from various schools. This magnificent, Baroque skylit gallery has towering windows and a vaulted gilt ceiling engraved with the names of painters, by nation, from the Renaissance (Peter Paul Rubens, Raphael, etc.) and Bartolome Esteban Murillo to Nicolas Poussin.

Jandy beside the The Battle of San Romano of Florentine painter Paolo Uccello, a set of three paintings in egg tempera on wooden panels, each over 3 m. long, depicts events that took place at the Battle of San Romano between Florentine and Sienese forces in 1432. They are significant as revealing the development of linear perspective in early Italian Renaissance painting, and are unusual as a major secular commission.

Salon Carre: Room 708, First Floor, Denon Wing, Louvre, Paris 75001, France. Tel: +33 1 40 20 50 50. Open daily, except Tuesdays and holidays, 9 AM- 6 PM (until 10 PM on Wednesday and Friday evenings).

Admission is free, from October to March, on the first Sunday of every month. Still and video photography is permitted for private, noncommercial use only in the galleries housing the permanent collection. The use of flash or other means of artificial lighting is prohibited. Photography and filming are not permitted in the temporary exhibition galleries.

Louvre Museum – The Grand Gallery (Paris, France)

Posted on 24 August, 2015 by Benjie Layug — Leave a reply

Grand Gallery (Grande Galerie)

The jaw-dropping Grand Gallery (Grande Galerie), built along the River Seine, is one of the most beautiful hallways and the most famous room of the Louvre.

Paintings along the hallway

This new piece of the palace was built from 1595 to 1610 by Henry IV, King of France (initially 460 m. long at the time, it was the longest edifice of its kind in the world), which was part of the Grand Dessein he saw completed.

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Statue of Diana of Versailles, a partially restored Roman marble copy of a lost Greek bronze original, of the Goddess of the Hunt with a deer, attributed to Leochares ( ca. 325 BC)

When he was a child, future King Louis XIII was playing and initiated to fox hunting there. It wasn’t completed until the reign of Louis XV, about 50 years later. During the 17^th century, it was used for the “scrofula ceremony,” during which the Sun King, Louis XIV, laid his hand on the sick.

The author beside The Fortune Teller, a painting by Italian Baroque artist Michelangelo Merisi da Caravaggio, exists in two versions. The first, from 1594, is now in the Musei Capitolini in Rome. The second, from 1595, in the Louvre museum, was painted by Caravaggio for Cardinal Francesco Maria Del Monte. Copied from the original 1594 version, it had certain changes. The undifferentiated background becomes a real wall broken by the shadows of a half-drawn curtain and a window sash, and the figures more completely fill the space and defining it in three dimensions. The light is more radiant, and the cloth of the foppishly-dressed boy’s (model is believed to be Caravaggio’s companion, the Sicilian painter Mario Minniti) doublet and the gypsy girl’s sleeves more finely textured. The dupe becomes more childlike and more innocently vulnerable, the girl less wary-looking, leaning in towards him, more in command of the situation. Close inspection of the painting reveals what the young man has failed to notice – the girl is removing his ring as she gently strokes his hand while reading his palm.

On November 8, 1793, in the midst of the Reign of Terror, the Musee Central des Artes was created and the Grande Galerie was officially opened.

La Belle Jardinière, also known as Madonna and Child with Saint John the Baptist, painted by the Italian High Renaissance artist Raphael during his stay in Florence between 1507 and 1508, was commissioned by the Sienese patrician Fabrizio Sergardi and shows Mary, Christ and the young John the Baptist. Raphael’s use of contrasting light and dark, and the relaxed, informal pose of the Madonna illustrates Leonardo da Vinci’s influence. Because of the harmony and balance of the picture together with the high quality of elements present, this 48 in × 31.5 in (122 cm × 80 cm) paintings is one of Raphael’s famous works.

During the reign of Louis XVI of France (1754-1793), this gallery was planned to be the location of the future royal “Museum.” Charles-Claude Flahaut de la Billaderie, comte d’Angiviller, helped build and plan the Grande Galerie and continued to acquire major works of art.

Portrait of Baldassare Castiglione (Raphael)

The author beside the Portrait of Baldassare Castiglione, another oil painting attributed to Raphael (1514–1515), is considered one of the great portraits of the Renaissance and has an enduring influence. It depicts the diplomat and humanist Baldassare Castiglione, Raphael’s friend, who is considered a quintessential example of the High Renaissance gentleman. The painting was acquired by Louis XIV in 1661 from the heirs of Cardinal Mazarin.

The Virgin of the Rocks (Leonardo da Vinci)

The Virgin of the Rocks (sometimes called the Madonna of the Rocks), a painting by Leonardo da Vinci, shows the Madonna and Child Jesus with the infant John the Baptist and an angel, in a rocky setting which gives the painting its name. This painting is regarded as a perfect example of Leonardo’s “sfumato” technique.

For many years, the area beneath the Grande Galerie served as artists’ studios and workshops. The engaged columns along the sides were added during the Empire by Charles Percier and Pierre-Francois-Leonard Fontaine, Napoleon I’s favorite architects.

Cheska and Kyle beside The Death of the Virgin, a painting completed by Italian Baroque master Caravaggio in 1606, was commissioned by papal lawyer Laerzio Cherubini for his chapel in the Carmelite church of Santa Maria della Scala in Trastevere, Rome . The figures are nearly life-sized. The Virgin Mary, the painting’s central theme, lies reclined, clad in a simple red dress. Caravaggio completely abandons the iconography traditionally used to indicate the holiness of the Virgin. Her cast-off body, with lolling head, hanging arm and swollen, spread feet, depict a raw and realistic view of the Virgin’s mortal remains, with nothing of the respectful representation found in devotional paintings.

Shortened by a third during the Second Empire to build the Flore Wing, it now houses collections of Italian painting dating back to around the 13th century (1250-1800).

Jandy beside Venus and Cupid with a Satyr (c. 1528), a 5 cm. × 125.5 cm. (74.2 in. × 49.4 in.) painting by the Italian late Renaissance artist Antonio Allegri da Correggio, depicts Venus sleeping with her son Eros. Behind them, a satyr is caught while discovering the goddess.

Mars and Venus (Andrea Mantegna)

The Great Gallery now houses one of the world most prestigious Italian Renaissance painting collection, from the Quattrocento (early Italian Renaissance) to High Renaissance and Mannerism with masterpieces of the most famous artists such as:

Mysteries of Christ’s Passion (Les Mystères de la Passion du Christ) , by Italian Renaissance painter Antonio Campi, is an oil on canvas created in 1569

This was a gallery that we “saw” quickly in a rush on our way to the State Room (Salle des Etats) to see the Mona Lisa on her stand alone wall. Later, Jandy and I would explore the Grand Gallery in detail.

Portrait of Baldassare Castiglione, another oil painting attributed to Raphael (1514–1515), is considered one of the great portraits of the Renaissance and has an enduring influence. It depicts the diplomat and humanist Baldassare Castiglione, Raphael’s friend, who is considered a quintessential example of the High Renaissance gentleman. The painting was acquired by Louis XIV in 1661 from the heirs of Cardinal Mazarin.

Divided into two by a central tribune, this immense hall originally connecting the Louvre to the Tuileries Palace and is more than a quarter of a mile long and one hundred feet wide.

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Noli Me Tangere by Agnolo Bronzino, an 289 cm. (113.7 in.) by 194 cm. (76.3 in.) oil on poplar wood, was created in 1561 in the Mannerism (Late Renaissance) style.

Louvre Museum: 75001 Paris, France. Tel: +33 1 40 20 50 50. Open daily, except Tuesdays and holidays, 9 AM- 6 PM (until 10 PM on Wednesday and Friday evenings).

Admission is free, from October to March, on the first Sunday of every month. Still and video photography is permitted for private, noncommercial use only in the galleries housing the permanent collection. The use of flash or other means of artificial lighting is prohibited. Photography and filming are not permitted in the temporary exhibition galleries.

This travel blog, a diary of the author’s local and international travels, aims to provide the reader with news and information on people, places and events that would interest the avid traveler and tourist. But, it also aims to be much more, providing insights on the wonders of this beautiful country, as well as the world, beyond the strict confines of the city. Have a BLAST seeing old churches, exotic temples, educational museums as well as palm-fringed islands; white sand beaches; thundering waterfalls; placid lakes; fiery sunsets; turquoise seas; cathedral-like caves; swirling rivers; majestic mountains; stupendous, amphitheater-like rice terraces; awesome volcanoes and the like. Get to know the movers and shakers in the tourism industry; find out where to titillate the palate; rejuvenate your body; feed your adrenalin, unwind and relax; satisfy your craving for history and culture; and find out what's being celebrated and where.

BENJAMIN “BENJIE” LAYUG, an architect by profession (he finished his B. S. Architecture degree from the University of the Philippines Diliman in 1982), is an avid reader, traveler and free-lance travel writer in his spare time, contributing articles to Travel Update, Philippine Daily Inquirer, COLORS, TODAY, 7107 Islands Magazine, Business Day, Bluprint and the Business Mirror.

He is also the author of the following travel books:

A Philippine Odyssey (New Day Publishers, 2005)
Pathfinder’s Travel Guide: Boracay (Great Books Trading, 2006)
A Tourist Guide to Notable Philippine Churches (New Day Publishers, 2007)
A Tourist to Notable Philippine Historical Landmarks, Monuments and Shrines (New Day Publishers, 2010)
A Tourist Guide to Notable Philippine Museums (New Day Publishers, 2012)

Some of his books now appear in the local library shelves of the National Library of the Philippines, De La Salle University, Ateneo de Manila University, University of Sto. Tomas, U.P. Diliman, Centro Escolar University, San Sebastian College, Miriam College, Silliman University, to name a few, as well as internationally at the National Library of Australia and the University of California Berkeley Library.

Now a senior citizen, he is probably one of the oldest, if not the oldest, active travel blogger in the country today. He also has a lifestyle blog called F.Y.I.:Firing Your Imagination (www.firingyourimagination.blogspot.com). Benjie has traveled to two-thirds (53) of the country’s 81 provinces and over 20 countries in 4 continents.