The Louvre's departments and collections

The Paintings Department is famous for the Mona Lisa, just one of around 7,000 works on display. The collection brings together monumental and emblematic pieces from western culture, organized by school: French, Italian, German, English, Flemish and Dutch. Scandinavian works also enrich the offering. It is the museum's most popular wing.

Among the most extensive in the world, the Egyptian collection traces the daily life of Ancient Egypt through nobles, priests and ordinary inhabitants. Its first director, Jean-François Champollion, deciphered the hieroglyphs in 1822, a milestone that still shapes the department today.

Begun by the French crown in the 16th century, this collection has grown steadily since the museum's foundation. The most recent extension, in 1997, integrated the former stables built for Napoleon III, expanding the available exhibition space.

This department covers a vast geographical area — from North Africa to the Indus river — over six millennia. Its 25 rooms, spread between the Richelieu and Sully wings, have been redesigned over time to enhance the understanding of the works in their original context.

Built mainly around French sculpture, this collection was reorganized in the 1990s. French works are now on display in the Richelieu wing, while foreign sculptures occupy the Denon wing.

From tapestry to goldsmithery, from stained glass to ceramics, this collection covers a remarkable range of techniques. The pieces, mainly French and European, span from the Middle Ages to the end of the Second Empire.

Established in 2003, the department draws on a much older heritage. France held oriental treasures as early as the medieval period, many acquired during the Crusades. Since 2011, the collections have been displayed in the Visconti Courtyard.

Counting around 140,000 pieces, this is the world's leading collection of drawings. Major bequests, such as that from Baron Edmond de Rothschild's heirs in 1935, have regularly enriched it. Its fragility and conservation requirements make it one of the museum's least visited departments.