View source for Louvre Pyramid

{{Short description|Glass-and-metal pyramid in the main courtyard of the Louvre Palace}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=August 2015}}
{{Infobox building
| name                = Louvre Pyramid
| native_name         = {{native name|fr|Pyramide du Louvre}}
| image               = Louvre Pyramid.jpg
| image_size          = 
| image_alt           = <!-- or |alt= -->
| image_caption       = The Louvre Pyramid in 2012
| coordinates         = {{coord|48|51|39.6|N|02|20|09.1|E|type:landmark_region:FR-75|display=inline,title}}
| architectural_style = 
| address             = 
| location_city       = [[Paris]]
| location_country    = France
| years_built         = 
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| start_date          = 
| stop_date           = 
| topped_out_date     = 
| completion_date     = 1989
| opened_date         = 
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| renovation_date     = 
| closing_date        = 
| demolition_date     = <!-- or |destruction_date= -->
| cost                = 
| owner               = 
| height              = 
| material            = 
| size                = 
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| architect           = [[I. M. Pei]]
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}}

The '''Louvre Pyramid''' ({{langx|fr|Pyramide du Louvre}}) is a large glass-and-metal structure designed by the Chinese-American architect [[I. M. Pei]]. The [[pyramid]] is in the main courtyard ([[Cour Napoléon]]) of the [[Louvre Palace]] in [[Paris]], surrounded by three smaller pyramids. The large pyramid serves as the main entrance to the [[Louvre|Louvre Museum]], allowing light to the underground visitors hall, while also allowing sight lines of the palace to visitors in the hall, and through access galleries to the different wings of the palace. Completed in 1989 as part of the broader [[Grand Louvre]] project,<ref name="SimonsNYT">{{cite news |last=Simons |first=Marlise |title=5 Pieces of Europe's Past Return to Life: France; A vast new exhibition space as the Louvre renovates |work=The New York Times |date=28 March 1993 |url=https://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9F0CEFDF1F39F93BA15750C0A965958260 |access-date=7 October 2008 |archive-date=21 January 2009 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090121154414/http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9F0CEFDF1F39F93BA15750C0A965958260 |url-status=live }}</ref><ref>{{cite web |last=Calder |first=Barnabas |title=Louvre Pyramid |publisher=[[Encyclopedia Britannica]] |date=23 November 2023 |url=https://www.britannica.com/topic/Louvre-Pyramid |access-date=6 January 2024 }}</ref> it has become a landmark of Paris.

== Design and construction ==
[[File:View of the Louvre Palace from inside of the Louvre Pyramid.jpg|thumb|Inside pictures: a view of the Louvre Museum in Paris from the underground lobby of the pyramid.]]
[[File:Hommes illustres - Palais du Louvre.svg|300px|thumb|The pyramid in the Cour Napoléon shown on a schematic of the Louvre]]
The [[Grand Louvre]] project was announced in 1981 by [[François Mitterrand]], the President of [[France]]. In 1983 the Chinese-American architect [[I. M. Pei]] was selected as its architect. The pyramid structure was initially designed by Pei in late 1983 and presented to the public in early 1984. Constructed entirely with [[glass]] segments and metal poles, it reaches a height of {{convert|21.6|m|ft}}.<ref name="Glassontheweb">{{cite web |url=http://www.glassonweb.com/articles/article/94 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20020112004520/http://www.glassonweb.com/articles/article/94/ |url-status=dead |archive-date=12 January 2002 |title=Architecture: Louvre Pyramid |work=Glass on the Web |date=June 2005 |access-date=16 January 2011}}</ref> Its square base has sides of {{convert|34|m|ft}} and a base surface area of {{convert|1000|m2|ft2}}.<ref>{{cite web |last1=Official Press Release |first1=Louvre |title="Pyramid" Project Launch: The Musée du Louvre is improving visitor reception (2014-2016) |url=http://www.louvre.fr/sites/default/files/dp_pyramide%2028102014_en.pdf |website=Louvre |access-date=16 May 2016 |page=10 |archive-date=19 November 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181119225328/https://www.louvre.fr/sites/default/files/dp_pyramide%2028102014_en.pdf |url-status=live }}</ref> It consists of 603 [[rhombus|rhombus-shaped]] and 70 triangular glass segments.<ref name="Glassontheweb" /> The sides' angle relative to the base is 51.52 degrees, an angle similar to that of Ancient Egyptian pyramids.<ref name=":0">{{cite web |url=https://www.thefrenchhistorypodcast.com/chapter-12-le-grand-louvre/ |title=Chapter 12: Le Grand Louvre |access-date=5 June 2023 |archive-date=5 June 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230605062853/https://www.thefrenchhistorypodcast.com/chapter-12-le-grand-louvre/ |url-status=live }}</ref>

The pyramid structure was engineered by Nicolet Chartrand Knoll Ltd. of [[Montreal]] (pyramid structure / design consultant) and [[RFR Engineers|Rice Francis Ritchie]] of [[Paris]] (pyramid structure / construction phase).<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.pcfandp.com/a/p/8315/s.html |title=Grand Louvre: Phase I |publisher=Pei Cobb Freed & Partners |access-date=16 January 2011 |archive-date=19 December 2010 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20101219082737/http://www.pcfandp.com/a/p/8315/s.html |url-status=live }}</ref>

The pyramid and the underground lobby beneath it were created because of deficiencies with the Louvre's earlier layout, which could no longer handle the increasing number of visitors on an everyday basis.<ref name=":1" /> Visitors entering through the pyramid descend into the spacious lobby then ascend into the main Louvre buildings.<ref name=":0" />

For design historian Mark Pimlott, "I.M. Pei’s plan distributes people effectively from the central concourse to myriad destinations within its vast subterranean network... the architectonic framework evokes, at gigantic scale, an ancient atrium of a [[Pompeii]]an villa; the treatment of the opening above, with its tracery of engineered castings and cables, evokes the atria of corporate office buildings; the busy movement of people from all directions suggests the concourses of rail termini or international airports."<ref name="Pimlott">{{cite book |last=Pimlott |first=Mark |year=2007 |url=http://www.artdesigncafe.com/The-Grand-Louvre-I-M-Pei-Pimlott-2007 |chapter=The Grand Louvre & I.M. Pei |type=Excerpt |title=Without and Within: Essays on Territory and the Interior |via=artdesigncafe |publisher=Episode Publishers |location=Rotterdam |access-date=13 August 2012 |archive-date=9 June 2012 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120609133826/http://www.artdesigncafe.com/The-Grand-Louvre-I-M-Pei-Pimlott-2007 |url-status=live }}</ref>

Several other museums and commercial centers have emulated this concept, most notably the [[Museum of Science and Industry (Chicago)|Museum of Science and Industry]] in [[Chicago]] and [[Pioneer Place]] in [[Portland, Oregon|Portland]], designed by Kathie Stone Milano with ELS/Elbasani and Logan, Architects from [[Berkeley, California]].

The construction work on the pyramid base and underground lobby was carried out by the [[Vinci (construction)|Vinci]] construction company.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.vinci.com/vinci.nsf/en/history-sites.htm?OpenAgent&the_grand_louvre_museum |title=History |publisher=Vinci |access-date=16 January 2011 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20111001122424/http://www.vinci.com/vinci.nsf/en/history-sites.htm?OpenAgent&the_grand_louvre_museum |archive-date=1 October 2011 |df=dmy-all}}</ref>

<gallery mode="packed" heights="300">
File:Louvre Museum Wikimedia Commons.jpg|The Courtyard of the Louvre Museum at night.
</gallery>

===Aesthetic and political debate over its design===
[[File:Hall Napoléon (22158664186).jpg|thumb|Hall Napoléon visitors center with views of museum through the glass pyramid]]

The construction of the pyramid triggered many years of lively aesthetic and political debate.<ref name=":1">{{cite web |last1=Tempest |first1=Rone |title=Controversial New Pyramid Entrance to the Louvre Opens in Paris |url=https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1989-03-30-ca-1039-story.html |website=Los Angeles Times |date=30 March 1989 |access-date=16 May 2016 |archive-date=5 June 2016 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160605103448/http://articles.latimes.com/1989-03-30/entertainment/ca-1039_1_glass-pyramid |url-status=live }}</ref> Criticisms tended to fall into four areas:

# The modernist style of the edifice being inconsistent with the classic French Renaissance style and history of the Louvre
# The pyramid being an unsuitable symbol of death from [[ancient Egypt]]
# The project being megalomaniacal folly imposed by then-President [[François Mitterrand]]
# Chinese-American architect I.M. Pei being insufficiently familiar with the [[culture of France]] to be entrusted with the task of updating the treasured Parisian landmark.<ref name="IM PEI Pyramid">{{cite web |last1=Bernstein |first1=Richard |title=I.M. Pei's Pyramid: A Provocative Plan for The Louvre |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1985/11/24/magazine/im-pei-s-pyramid-a-provative-plan-for-the-louvre.html |work=The New York Times |access-date=16 May 2016 |date=1985-11-24 |archive-date=31 May 2016 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160531183717/http://www.nytimes.com/1985/11/24/magazine/im-pei-s-pyramid-a-provative-plan-for-the-louvre.html |url-status=live }}</ref>

Those criticizing the aesthetics said it was [[sacrilegious]] to tamper with the Louvre's majestic old French Renaissance architecture, and called the pyramid an anachronistic intrusion of an Egyptian death symbol in the middle of Paris.<ref>{{cite news |last1=Goldberger |first1=Paul |title=Pei Pyramid and New Louvre Open Today |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1989/03/29/arts/pei-pyramid-and-new-louvre-open-today.html?pagewanted=1 |work=The New York Times |date=29 March 1989 |access-date=16 May 2016 |archive-date=10 June 2016 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160610025601/http://www.nytimes.com/1989/03/29/arts/pei-pyramid-and-new-louvre-open-today.html?pagewanted=1 |url-status=live }}</ref> Meanwhile, political critics referred to the structure as ''Pharaoh François' Pyramid''.<ref name="IM PEI Pyramid"/> Writing in ''[[The Nation]]'', [[Alexander Cockburn]] ridiculed Pei's rationale that the structure would help visitors locate the entrance: "What Pei really meant was that in our unfolding ''[[fin de siècle]]'', public institutions need an area (...) where rich people can assemble for cocktail parties, banquets and kindred functions, to which the word 'charity' is attached to satisfy bodies such as the [[Internal Revenue Service|IRS]]."<ref>{{cite news |last=Cockburn |first=Alexander |date=1986-04-26 |title=The Private Use of Public Spaces |work=The Nation}}</ref> Some still feel the modernism of the edifice is out of place.<ref>{{cite web |last1=Stamberg |first1=Susan |title=Landmark At The Louvre: The Pyramid Turns 20 |url=https://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=121097261 |website=NPR |publisher=National Public Radio |access-date=16 May 2016 |archive-date=10 June 2016 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160610201134/http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=121097261 |url-status=live }},</ref><ref>{{cite web |last1=Carbone |first1=Ken |title=Viva Le Louvre! At 20, I.M. Pei's Controversial Pyramid Defies Critics |url=http://www.fastcompany.com/1271948/viva-le-louvre-20-im-peis-controversial-pyramid-defies-critics |website=Fast Company |date=20 April 2009 |publisher=Mansueto Ventures, LLC |access-date=16 May 2016 |archive-date=10 August 2016 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160810220453/http://www.fastcompany.com/1271948/viva-le-louvre-20-im-peis-controversial-pyramid-defies-critics |url-status=live }}</ref><ref>{{cite web |last1=Souza |first1=Eduardo |title=AD Classics: Le Grande Louvre / I.M. Pei |url=http://www.archdaily.com/88705/ad-classics-le-grande-louvre-i-m-pei/ |website=Arch Daily |date=18 November 2010 |publisher=Plataforma Networks Broadcasting Architecture Worldwide |access-date=16 May 2016 |archive-date=28 May 2016 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160528052313/http://www.archdaily.com/88705/ad-classics-le-grande-louvre-i-m-pei |url-status=live }}</ref>

==Number of panes==
The pyramid has a total of 673 panes, as confirmed by the Louvre,<ref name="Glassontheweb"/> 603 rhombi and 70 triangles. Three sides have 171 panes each: 18 triangular ones on the edges and 153 rhombic ones arranged in a triangle;<ref>the 17th [[triangular number]] is <math>\textstyle\frac{17\cdot(17+1)}{2}=153</math></ref> the fourth side, with the entrance, has nine fewer rhombic and two fewer triangular ones, giving 160.<ref>The Glazing manufucturer, Saint-Gobain, states that there are "675 lozenges and 118 triangles,"&nbsp;making 793 total glass panes ([https://www.saint-gobain.com/en/saint-gobain-stories/diamond-louvre-hits-30 "A Raw Diamond Cut From Glass"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191001210756/https://www.saint-gobain.com/en/saint-gobain-stories/diamond-louvre-hits-30 |date=1 October 2019 }}, Saint Gobain website). However, these numbers appear to also include the panes in the three smaller pyramids on the north, east, and south sides of the main pyramid.</ref> Some commentators report that Pei's office counts 689.<ref name="secrets"/>

However, a longstanding rumor claims that the pyramid includes exactly 666 panes, "[[number of the beast|the number of the beast]]", often associated with [[Satan]]. The story of the 666 panes originated in the 1980s, when the official brochure published during construction cited this number twice. The number 666 was also mentioned in various newspapers. One writer on esoteric architecture asserted that "the pyramid is dedicated to a power described as the Beast in the Book of Revelation.... The entire structure is based on the number six."<ref>Dominique Setzepfandt, ''François Mitterrand, Grand Architecte de l'Univers'', 1998, {{isbn|290976902X}}</ref>

The myth resurfaced in 2003, with the protagonist of the best-selling novel ''[[The Da Vinci Code]]'' saying: "this pyramid, at President Mitterrand's explicit demand, had been constructed of exactly 666 panes of glass&nbsp;— a bizarre request that had always been a hot topic among conspiracy buffs who claimed 666 was the number of [[Satan]]."<ref>Dan Brown. ''The Da Vinci Code'', p. 21.{{full citation needed|date=August 2015}}</ref> In fact, according to Pei's office, Mitterrand never specified the number of panes.<ref name="secrets">''Secrets of the Code'', edited by Dan Burstein, p. 259.{{full citation needed|date=August 2015}}</ref>

[[Image:Comparison of pyramids.svg|thumb|250px|lang={{{1|en}}}|Comparison of approximate profiles of the ''Louvre Pyramid'' with other notable pyramidal or near-pyramidal buildings. Dotted lines indicate original heights, where data are available. In [http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/a/ac/Comparison_of_pyramids_SMIL.svg its&nbsp;SVG&nbsp;file], hover over a pyramid to highlight and click for its article.]]

==Inverted Pyramid==
{{Main|Louvre Inverted Pyramid}}
The Inverted Pyramid (Pyramide Inversée) is a skylight in the [[Carrousel du Louvre]] shopping mall in front of the Louvre Museum. It looks like an upside-down and smaller version of the Louvre Pyramid.

==Renovation==
Designed for a museum that then attracted 4.5&nbsp;million visitors a year, the pyramid eventually proved inadequate, as the Louvre's attendance had doubled by 2014. Over the next three years, the layout of the foyer area in the Cour Napoleon beneath the glass pyramid underwent a thorough redesign, including better access to the pyramid and the Passage Richelieu.<ref>{{cite news |first=Javier |last=Pes |date=28 April 2014 |url=http://theartnewspaper.com/articles/Louvres-director-makes-unblocking-pyramid-bottleneck-a-priority/32552 |title=Louvre's Director Makes Unblocking Pyramid Bottleneck a Priority |work=[[The Art Newspaper]] |url-status=unfit |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140429215635/http://theartnewspaper.com/articles/Louvres-director-makes-unblocking-pyramid-bottleneck-a-priority/32552 |archive-date=29 April 2014}}</ref>

==Pei's other glass pyramids==
Prior to designing the Louvre Pyramid, Pei had included smaller glass pyramids in his design for the [[National Gallery of Art]]'s East Building in [[Washington, D.C.]], completed in 1978. Multiple small glass pyramids, along with a fountain, were built in the plaza between the East Building and the pre-existing West Building, acting as a unifying element between the two properties and serving as skylights for the underground atrium that connected the buildings.<ref>{{cite web |last1=Sveiven |first1=Megan |title=AD Classics: East Building, National Gallery of Art / I.M. Pei |url=https://www.archdaily.com/97193/ad-classics-east-building-national-gallery-of-art-i-m-pei |website=[[ArchDaily]] |access-date=5 December 2022 |date=18 December 2010 |archive-date=5 December 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221205175441/https://www.archdaily.com/97193/ad-classics-east-building-national-gallery-of-art-i-m-pei |url-status=live }}</ref> The same year the Louvre Pyramid opened, Pei included large glass pyramids on the roofs of the [[IBM Somers Office Complex]] he designed in [[Westchester County, New York]].<ref name=Pyramids>{{Cite web |url=https://qz.com/1621464/how-i-m-pei-reinvented-the-pyramid/ |title=How I.M. Pei—renowned architect who died at 102—reinvented the pyramid |date=16 May 2019 |access-date=20 May 2019 |archive-date=25 July 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200725170648/https://qz.com/1621464/how-i-m-pei-reinvented-the-pyramid/ |url-status=live }}</ref> Pei returned again to the glass pyramid concept at the [[Rock and Roll Hall of Fame]] in [[Cleveland, Ohio]], opened in 1995.<ref name=Pyramids/>

==Precursor at the Louvre==
In 1839, according to one newspaper account, in ceremonies commemorating the [[July Revolution]] of 1830, "The tombs of the Louvre were covered with black hangings and adorned with tricolored flags. In front and in the middle was erected an expiatory monument of a pyramidal shape, and surmounted by a funeral vase."<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.gutenberg.org/w/captcha/question/ |title=The Paris Sketch Book Of Mr. M. A. Titmarsh |publisher=[[Project Gutenberg]] |access-date=30 December 2016 |archive-date=26 February 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190226193223/http://www.gutenberg.org/w/captcha/question/ |url-status=live }}</ref>

According to the memoirs of [[Maximilien de Béthune, Duke of Sully]], a 20 foot high pyramid, which stood opposite the Louvre with only a street between them, was torn down in 1605 because the [[Jesuits]] objected to an inscription on a pillar.<ref>Memoirs of the Duke of Sully, Book 20 vol. 3, published by ULAN Press.</ref>

==See also==
*{{Portal-inline|France}}
*[[Yann Weymouth]]

==References==
{{Reflist}}

==External links==
{{Commons category}}
*[http://www.greatbuildings.com/buildings/Pyramide_du_Louvre.html Great buildings]
*[http://www.louvre.fr Louvre]

{{Louvre}}
{{Louvre Museum}}
{{I. M. Pei}}
{{Grands Projets of François Mitterrand}}
{{Visitor attractions in Paris}}
{{Authority control}}

[[Category:Buildings and structures completed in 1989]]
[[Category:Buildings and structures in Paris]]
[[Category:Louvre Palace]]
[[Category:Art gallery districts]]
[[Category:I. M. Pei buildings]]
[[Category:French urban legends]]
[[Category:Lattice shell structures]]
[[Category:Pyramids in France]]
[[Category:1989 establishments in France]]
[[Category:Architectural controversies]]
[[Category:20th-century architecture in France]]