LYCOS RETRIEVER 
Louvre: Grand Louvre
built 633 days ago
Just below the Pyramid, the restaurant "Le Grand Louvre" offers gourmet specialties in a classic setting. Open from 12 a.m. to 3 p.m. and from 7 p.m. to 12 p.m. on Wednesdays and Fridays.
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In 1981 President Mitterrand initiated a rehabilitation project called Le Grand Louvre. The visible part of this iceberg like building-site, being the Glass Pyramid designed by famous architect Ieoh Ming Pei, opens the outstanding perspective toward the Grande Arche de la Défense with the Arc de Triomphe in the middle. The Pyramid gives now access to the main entrance, letting a delightful golden light filter through the glass surface illuminating the floor below.
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In 1594 King Henry IV united the Palais du Louvre with the Palais des Tuileries, which had been constructed by Catherine de Medici. This "Grand Design" called for a Grande Galerie to built connecting to the Pavillon de Flore on the southern end and the Pavillon de Marsan to the north. To contemporaries, this edifice was one of the longest in the world.[8] Louis XIII (1610-1643) completed the wing now called the Denon Wing in 1560.[8][10]
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Hubert Robert's great work was the realization of the Louvre Museum. A comparison of two of his paintings, the first showing a ruined barrel-vault hall, and the second the Grande Galerie in the Louvre, immediately reveals the source of the idea for the top lighting and the "antique effect" that the newly designed gallery is open to the sky. The sublimity of antique ruins was to be transferred to the real building, and this in turn was to be a treasure chest of art and a worthy successor to its antique models.
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Henry IV, King of France added the Grande Galerie to the Louvre. The Grande Galerie is more than a quarter mile long and one hundred feet wide. The Grande Galerie was built along the River Seine. It was the longest building in the world.
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An extensive renovation project spanning the last two decades of the 20th century transformed the museum into the Grand Louvre. Significant changes included the addition of the Pei Pyramid entrance and the Carrousel du Louvre commercial center, the excavation of the medieval foundations, and the opening of the Richelieu Wing (formerly occupied by the Ministry of Finance).
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