Page:The American Cyclopædia (1879) Volume X.djvu/694

 688 LOUVKE from one of the windows on the fleeing Hugue- nots during the massacre of St. Bartholomew, Aug. 24, 1572. He and subsequent kings made great additions to the building. Henry IV. conceived the project of uniting the Louvre with the Tuileries, which to some extent was carried out by Louis XIV., mainly through the exertions of Colbert, under whose direc- tion a powerful impetus was given to the en- largement of the palace. Louis XIV. laid the first stone of the facade from designs by Ber- nini, Oct. 17, 1665 ; but Bernini's designs were superseded by those of Claude Perrault, who in 1666 commenced the magnificent colonnade of the E. front over the grand gateway. The royal pictures were deposited here in 1681. In the middle of the 18th century the archi- tect Gabriel was employed in finishing the facades. The work was once more interrupt- ed by the revolution, when the Louvre was declared national property, and its contents were roughly handled by the popul'ace. In July, 1793, all pictures, statues, vases, &c., in the royal palaces and collections were or- dered to be transferred to the Louvre, and the museum was opened to the public on Aug. 10. When the great number of works of art seized in Italy by the armies of Napoleon made it necessary to assign a place for their recep- tion, the architect Eaimond was selected to conduct the work ; and Percier and Fontaine, who in 1803 were charged by Napoleon with its resumption, built the great staircase of the museum proper, the museums of ancient art, the staircases on the two extreme ends of the colonnade, the Egyptian museum, the chambers for the council of state, afterward destined to receive the designs of all the various schoola Court of the Louvre. of art, the marine museum, and other portions of the Louvre. When the allied armies took possession of Paris, the works of art which Napoleon had brought from Italy were re- stored to their owners. Under the restora- tion the work on the Louvre came to a stand- still, and the initials of Napoleon, which were inscribed in many parts of the palace, were erased. After the revolution of 1848, 2,000,- 000 francs was devoted by the provisional government to the repairs of the old Louvre under the direction of M. Duban, who re- stored the Apollo gallery. The decorations of the interior were intrusted to Delacroix and other eminent artists. The resolution passed by the provisional government in favor of the completion of the whole building was put in operation July 25, 1852, when the foundation stone of the new Louvre was laid, which was completed in 1857 at a cost of nearly 30,000,- 000 francs. The architect Visconti conduct- ed the work until his death in 1853, when he was succeeded by M. Lef uel. The Louvre and the Tuileries, when connected and harmonized, formed almost one single palace of unpar- alleled splendor and magnitude, and occupied with their enclosures an area of nearly 60 acres. It was greatly injured by the communists in May, 1871 ; the magnificent library was con- sumed by the flames, and several of the halls of sculpture, art, and archaeology fell a prey to the most reckless destruction and wanton pillage. After the restoration is completed, the distinctions of old and new Louvre will probably be dropped. In 1873 extensive relics of a temple of Apollo, excavated at Miletus at the expense of Baron Kothschild, were pre- sented to the museum.