Museum foundation :
All starts with an exposure of the most beautiful pictures of the royal collection which is held at the Luxemburg palace from 1750 to 1785 and wich knows an tremandous success. The marquis of Marigny, director of the Buildings, and his successor the count of Angiviller elaborate then the project to make the Louvre a permanent museum. The project turns into law on May 6, 1791, and on August 10, 1793 took place the inauguration of the new museum.
During the Empire, the Louvre museum takes the name of Napoleon. Its first director is Dominique Vivant Denon; he makes it the biggest world museum (with the active help of Napoleon who pillages the conquered countries) and he presides to its dismantling at the time of the emperor's fall (in two stages). The museum is enlarged by Percier and Fountain who construct the wing of the Rivoli Street. Other transformations take place by Napoleon III and notably the realization of the Big Design. But in 1871 the museum is fired during the Township, and the architect Hector-Martin Lefuel must rebuild a part of the buildings. The Tile works will never be rebuilt, and after several years of deliberation, the ruins are razed in 1882.

The Big Louvre :
Under the first term of François Mitterrand, the decision is taken to return the Richelieu wing which shelters the Ministry of Finance (that will be relocating in a new building in Bercy). to the museum This decision is accompanied by the collections of reorganization and an architectural transformation of buildings. Works spread from 1981 to 1999 conducted by the Sino-American architect Ieoh Ming Pei (for the first slice). The most controversial aspect of the project is the construction of a glass pyramid in the center Napoleon court. which permits to illuminate an immense underground hall giving access to all parts of the museum.