Book Review by Anna Karras Adventures in the Louvre: How to Fall in Love with the World’s Greatest Museum

The Mona Lisa. The Venus de Milo. The Winged Victory of Samothrace. These three works of art are the most famous and iconic pieces in the Louvre’s vast collection. This is where Sciolino’s book begins, and rightly so. It is estimated that ten million people visit the Louvre each year and 80 percent of them are there just to see the Mona Lisa. Perhaps you have been there yourself and know the feeling of the crowds pushing forward to see the relatively small painting, sitting behind bullet-proof glass. It’s not the most transformative museum experience. Fortunately, the rest of Sciolino’s book is revelatory in fascinating facts about the museum and other parts of the collection you might have missed.

The Louvre was first a palace of the kings of France until Louis XIV built the palace at Versailles and moved his court out of the city of Paris in 1682. It wasn’t until over 100 years and a revolution later that the Louvre opened its doors as a museum in August of 1793. The sprawling building has its origins as a fortress that was built around 1190. Additions over the centuries have left us with a sprawling building of many architectural styles and at 652,300 square feet, it is the world’s largest museum.

Divided into sections, Adventures in the Louvre explores different themes in this collection of thirty essays. Sciolino takes a deep dive not only into the collections of paintings, sculptures and decorative arts, she also highlights some of the little-known facts about the building, the staff who run the museum, and its ever-evolving identity.

For instance, tucked in the barely visited Pavillon de Flore is the Consultation Room for Prints and Drawings. While hard to locate, it is open to visitors by appointment. One can browse their catalog of prints, etchings, and drawings, and view them up close. Famous artists such as Leonardo da Vinci, Rembrandt van Rijn, and Élisabeth Vigée Le Brun all have works that will be brought to you by a staff member.

On an upper floor of the Richelieu Wing the Louvre houses the National Museums Recovery Collection. The two rooms are crammed with works of art recovered from the Nazis after World War II and are believed to be art stolen from Jewish families. More than 1,600 works of art are still waiting to be returned to the descendants of the owners.

While Rick Steves might have the best tour for a beginner visitor to the Louvre, Sciolino’s offering brings a more thoughtful exploration of the lesser known but equally enriching parts of these amazing halls and galleries. The reader will be excited to explore the Louvre more thoroughly on their next visit after reading this lovely and loving tribute.

∞ Author Profile

Elaine Sciolino is an author and journalist. Born in Buffalo, New York, she earned degrees from Canisius College and New York University. Working for Newsweek in 1978 in Paris, she was the first woman to interview Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini when he came to France in exile. Later, she was bureau chief for Newsweek in Rome and later the New York Times bureau chief in Paris. She is the author of six books of nonfiction. She currently lives in Paris with her husband. The couple has two grown daughters.

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Adventures in the Louvre: How to Fall in Love with the World’s Greatest Museum

by Elaine Sciolino

Publisher: W.W. Norton & Company

384 Pages

$29.99 US