The Louvre Museum is France's national museum, devoted to fine art, archaeology and the decorative arts prior to Impressionism. It is located in Paris, the country's capital, in the former royal palace of the Louvre. Its extensive collections are the result of the collecting efforts of the French monarchy over several centuries, the efforts of several Enlightenment personalities, the disentailment of the French Revolution, the military victories during the Napoleonic wars, and the archaeological and purchasing campaigns of the 19th century. Some 487,000 works, including 7,000 paintings, and some 380,000 objects and antiquities are on display on its 210,000 m² of floor space.

In the history of museums, the opening of the Louvre in 1793 marked the transfer of the private collections of the ruling classes (monarchy, aristocracy and church) to publicly owned galleries for the enjoyment of society as a whole. This made it a precedent and model for several museums.

Many artists have been involved in its architectural and decorative modifications over the centuries, from Claude Perrault and the painters Simon Vouet and Charles Le Brun in the 17th century to Delacroix and Georges Braque, who painted some of its ceilings.

The Louvre is the most visited art museum in the world, famous for its masterpieces, especially the Renaissance painting known as La Gioconda by Leonardo da Vinci. Other highlights were selected in 2020 by the museum itself under the title "24 must-see works". The list includes, in addition to the aforementioned painting, works such as The Code of Hammurabi, The Seated Scribe, The Consecration of Napoleon and Liberty Leading the People, among others.

According to a chronological arrangement of the national collections, the Louvre displays works of art from before 1848. Almost all the works of the advanced 19th century, from realism (Courbet) to impressionism and Toulouse-Lautrec, were transferred to the Musée d'Orsay, and modern and contemporary art is exhibited at the Centre Pompidou. In addition, the institution promotes two sub-sites, in Lens (France) and Abu Dhabi (United Arab Emirates).