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The '''''Musée du Louvre''''' ({{IPA-fr|myze dy luvʁ}}), or officially '''''Grand Louvre''''' — in English the '''Louvre Museum''' or simply '''the Louvre''' — is one of the world's largest [[museum]]s, the [[List of the most visited museums in the world|most visited art museum in the world]] and a historic monument. It is a central landmark of [[Paris]] and located on the [[Rive Droite|Right Bank]] of the [[Seine]] in the [[1st arrondissement of Paris|1st arrondissement]] (district). Nearly 35,000 objects from prehistory to the 19th century are exhibited over an area of 60,600 square metres (652,300 square feet).
The museum is housed in the [[Palais du Louvre|Louvre Palace]] (''Palais du Louvre'') which began as a fortress built in the late 12th century under [[Philip II of France|Philip II]]. Remnants of the fortress are still visible. 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 antique sculpture.<ref>[http://www.louvre.fr/llv/musee/detail_repere.jsp?CONTENT%3C%3Ecnt_id=10134198673226981&CURRENT_LLV_PERIODE%3C%3Ecnt_id=10134198673226961&CURRENT_LLV_CHRONOLOGIE%3C%3Ecnt_id=10134198673226610&CURRENT_LLV_REPERE%3C%3Ecnt_id=10134198673226981&FOLDER%3C%3Efolder_id=9852723696500938&bmLocale=en&leftPosition=-300 Louvre Website- Chateau to Museum, 1672 and 1692]</ref> 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.<ref>[http://www.louvre.fr/llv/musee/detail_repere.jsp?CONTENT%3C%3Ecnt_id=10134198673226982&CURRENT_LLV_PERIODE%3C%3Ecnt_id=10134198673226961&CURRENT_LLV_CHRONOLOGIE%3C%3Ecnt_id=10134198673226610&CURRENT_LLV_REPERE%3C%3Ecnt_id=10134198673226982&FOLDER%3C%3Efolder_id=9852723696500938&bmLocale=en&leftPosition=-300 Louvre Website- Chateau to Museum 1692]</ref> During the [[French Revolution]], the [[National Assembly]] decreed that the Louvre should be used as a museum, to display the nation's masterpieces.
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