About This Quiz
The Louvre is arguably the most famous museum in the world. How much do you know about the home of the "Mona Lisa"? Take this quiz to test your knowledge.Just checking if you were awake. Paris it is.
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The Louvre is on the right bank of the Seine, in the 1st arrondissement.
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King Philip II constructed the Louvre as a fortress in the late 12th century. In the 16th century, Francis I had most of it demolished to make way for a residential palace.
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The king was a patron of da Vinci and persuaded him to move to France.
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Louis XIV moved to Versailles in 1682, and the Louvre fell into disuse.
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With the French Revolution under way, the National Assembly decided that the Louvre should become a public art museum. It opened on Aug. 10, 1793, the first anniversary of the monarchy's fall.
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Da Vinci's model for the painting was Lisa del Giocondo.
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Napoleon, never one for humility, named the museum for himself.
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Napoleon had the painting in his bedroom.
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Napoleon greatly expanded the museum's collection, but his methods were far from above-board. Five thousand pieces went back to their rightful countries.
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Louvre worker Vincenzo Peruggia was arrested after trying to sell the "Mona Lisa" to an art dealer in Florence.
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The "Mona Lisa" took a tour of Italy before being returned to the Louvre in 1913.
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In 2014, 9.3 million people visited the Louvre.
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The Louvre tops the list, with Beijing's Museum of China in second place.
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Sixty-five percent of Louvre visitors are foreign tourists.
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Admission to the Louvre is 15 euros, or about $16.50.
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There are about 2,000 people on the Louvre staff.
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Islamic art is the eighth and newest department, created in 2003 and housed in a new addition since 2012.
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Yes, the Louvre holds the largest-museum title.
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The museum has 380,000 artifacts and works of art.
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It would take 100 days of around-the-clock perusing to see it all.
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Jackie Kennedy persuaded Charles de Gaulle's cultural minister to loan the "Mona Lisa" to the National Gallery and the Metropolitan Museum of Art for a short time in 1963.
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Louvre visitors often comment on how small the "Mona Lisa" is — just 21-by-30 inches.
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Two-thirds of the paintings are by French artists.
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The Louvre encompasses 15 acres.
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Traditionalists clutched their pearls at architect I.M. Pei's glass pyramids, but the addition is now considered iconic.
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Abu Dhabi made a roughly $1.3 billion deal with the Louvre to open a second location.
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The armless Venus de Milo is thought to have been carved in the 2nd century B.C.E. by Greek sculptor Alexandros of Antioch.
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Louvre staff went on strike in 2013 because bands of young pickpockets were creating a security nightmare.
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In June 2016, the Seine reached its highest levels in 30 years.
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