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Timeline Of The Louvre
The Onion looks back at the most important events in the history of the Paris art museum.
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1793: France’s revolutionary government opens Musée Central des Arts in the Grande Galerie of the Louvre to manage spillover crowds from the Hard Rock Café Paris.
1814-1832: Bourbon Restoration period sees collections grow thanks to generous donations of artwork by plundered nations.
1886: Museum makes history by acquiring its first female statue.
1940: Nazi soldier pretty underwhelmed by remaining collection.
1957:
Mona Lisa placed behind bulletproof glass after unsuccessful assassination attempt.
1980: Following expensive restoration of hundreds of paintings, Louvre begins forbidding visitors from touching or licking the art.
The French leader’s legacy may be tainted by his reinstatement of slavery, among other things, but his achievements include emancipating the Jews, explains Napoleonic expert Thierry Lenz
Imagine you are in the Paris Opera House, circa 1831. Take a look at the crowd. They look like regular opera-goers, just like you, but some of them are not as they appear. See that row of men clapping wildly in the front row, and crying
“Encore, encore?” They’re actually employees of the theater, just like the musicians. That woman dabbing tears from her eyes? By day, she’s a professional mourner; by night she brings her talents to the opera house, in order to increase the impact of the melodramatic scenes.
The directors of the Paris Opera saw no reason to leave the success of their performances up to the whims of an unpredictable audience. To guarantee acclaim, they employed the services of an organized body of professional applauders, commonly known as the “claque.” These