Paris

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Musée du Louvre

rue de Rivoli, 1st

The most famous museum in the world is several museums in one. Treasures from the Egyptians, Etruscans, Greeks and Romans each have their own extensive galleries, as do Middle Eastern and Islamic art. There are European decorative arts from the Middle Ages up to the 19th century, and in the Sully wing you can roam through rooms distinguished by lavish interior design. Work in the galleries of arts premiers (‘primitive’ art) in the Pavillon des Sessions will be moved to the Musée du Quai Branly.

The main draw is western painting and sculpture, mostly contained in the vast Denon wing. There are around 6,000 of the most famous paintings in the world on show, the most impressive being the vast 18th- to 19th-century canvases hanging in the Grande Galerie. In 2005, the Salle des Etats reopened after a four-year renovation programme, the museum’s two most celebrated works, the Mona Lisa and Veronese’s lavish Wedding at Cana, given pride of place in the glass-roofed room. Queues are inevitable after the release of the film version of bestselling The Da Vinci Code – as if bullet-proof glass wasn’t off-putting already.

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