Tess Tam Français

Wednesday, April 20, 2016

Le Louvre

The Louvre or the Louvre Museum is one of the world's largest museums and a historic monument in Paris, France. A central landmark of the city, it is located on the Right Bank of the Seine in the 1st arrondissement(ward). Nearly 35,000 objects from prehistory to the 21st century are exhibited over an area of 60,600 square meters (652,300 square feet). The Louvre is the world's most visited museum, receiving more than 9.26 million visitors in 2014.It is also one of the largest.The museum is housed in the Louvre Palace, originally built as a fortress in the late 12th century under Philip II. Remnants of the fortress are visible in the basement of the museum. The building was extended many times to form the present Louvre Palace. In 1682, Louis XIV chose the Palace of Versailles for his household, leaving the Louvre primarily as a place to display the royal collection, including, from 1692, a collection of ancient Greek and Roman sculpture.In 1692, the building was occupied by the Académie des Inscriptions et Belles Lettres and the Académie Royale de Peinture et de Sculpture, which in 1699 held the first of a series of salons. The Académie remained at the Louvre for 100 years.During the French Revolution, the National Assembly decreed that the Louvre should be used as a museum to display the nation's masterpieces.The museum opened on 10 August 1793 with an exhibition of 537 paintings, the majority of the works being royal and confiscated church property. Because of structural problems with the building, the museum was closed in 1796 until 1801. The collection was increased under Napoleon and the museum renamed the Musée Napoléon, but after Napoleon's abdication many works seized by his armies were returned to their original owners. The collection was further increased during the reigns of Louis XVIII and Charles X, and during the Second French Empire the museum gained 20,000 pieces. Holdings have grown steadily through donations and bequests since the Third Republic. The collection is divided among eight curatorial departments: Egyptian Antiquities;Near Eastern Antiquities; Greek, Etruscan and Roman Antiquities; Islamic Art;

Saw:
A pyramid = Une pyramide
A bench = Un banc
the Mona Lisa = La Mona Lisa
A pool of water = Une piscine d'eau
Michael Angelo's dying slave = esclave mourant de Michel-Ange

Heard:
A police siren = une sirène de police

Qu'est-ce que tu as fait?
Moi: A le Louvre, j'ai regardé les peintures

la bouillabaisse

la crème brûlée

Le Tour Eiffel

The Eiffel Tower is a wrought iron lattice tower on the Champ de Mars in Paris, France. It is named after the engineer Gustave Eiffel, whose company designed and built the tower. Constructed in 1889 as the entrance to the 1889 World's Fair, it was initially criticized by some of France's leading artists and intellectuals for its design, but it has become a global cultural icon of France and one of the most recognizable structures in the world.The Eiffel Tower is the most-visited paid monument in the world; 6.91 million people ascended it in 2015.The tower is 324 meters (1,063 ft) tall, about the same height as an 81-story building, and the tallest structure in Paris. Its base is square, measuring 125 meters (410 ft) on each side. During its construction, the Eiffel Tower surpassed the Washington Monument to become the tallest man-made structure in the world, a title it held for 41 years until the Chrysler Building in New York City was finished in 1930. Due to the addition of a broadcasting aerial at the top of the tower in 1957, it is now taller than the Chrysler Building by 5.2 meters (17 ft). Excluding transmitters, the Eiffel Tower is the second-tallest structure in Franceafter the Millau Viaduct.