We're making this Chateau Week here on the blog (because, well, why not have a fun theme for another week in lockdown?). In my daily Instagram posts, we're moving beyond Paris to explore some of France's best-known chateaux as well as some hidden gems. But in these virtual visits, we'll be sticking a little closer to home to examine the long and complex history of Paris' most famed chateau: the Louvre. Over three days of visits, we'll see how the chateau has transformed in its more than 800-year history from a medieval fortress to a Renaissance palace to a revolutionary art museum. Today, in the first of those three visits, we'll focus on the Ancien Regime history of the Louvre -- that is, the modifications, additions, and destructions of the palace in the period before the French Revolution of 1789.
The usual caution: the primary venue for this content is the stories feature on my Instagram page. All of the virtual visits will be saved in my story highlights. The purpose of the blog posts is to allow a greater audience (especially those without social media accounts) to benefit from the same content.
Now, onto the Louvre!
How's that for a "brief" history of a very complex space?
See you back here on Wednesday, when we'll dig into the history of Louvre during and following the French Revolution, including transformations and additions of the First and Second Empires, destructions of the Paris Commune, and a rather major restructuring of the building in the 20th century to make it the space we know today.
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