History of the Médiéval Louvre in Paris

History of the Louvre Mediaval in Paris

The Medieval Louvre was the place where the site of the present Louvre Palace. Its construction was made in order to defend Paris. It was built on the orders of Philip Augustus in 1200 during the reign of Philip and Henry August. He lay on the south-western part of the current courtyard. The construction of this fortress came to an end in 1204. Amid the construction placed a high tower, which later became the symbol of royal power.

King Philip Augustus wanted to make the city of Paris the religious capital, but mainly political. He had then build a huge wall that surrounded Paris. Initially the medieval Louvre had protective role for the city of Paris for and stood west of walling. The enclosure was rectangular measuring 72 meters wide by 78 meters long. He had a large dungeon with 15 meters in diameter, 4.20 meters thick and 30 meters high with defensive towers ten in number. The interior of the enclosure was only accessible by two doors with drawbridge were in the south and east. The wall was juxtaposed with two buildings to the south and west. Previously, the Louvre was outside the enclosure.

Enlargements were made in the Medieval Louvre during the reign of Louis IX. New rooms were built as the Salle Saint-Louis. Wealth belonging to royalty were transferred to the castle. It underwent renovations during the reign of Charles V. He wanted to make an unassailable fortress residence because of agitations Burghers of Paris led by Etienne Marcel against him. The royal architect Raymond du Temple led the alteration.

In the mid-14th century, the castle became a royal residence. The building had two roles including the role of protection and the role of royal shelter. He and accessed as well as the Saint-Pol Marais, the Château de Vincennes and the palace of the Ile de la Cité. The famous spiral staircase was added to the castle. It was the work of Raymond du Temple and installed in the dungeon. The staircase was decorated with portraits of the royal family. Works Drouet Dammartin decorated the castle as sculptures. Currently, there no remains much of the Medieval Louvre. Only sketches and books show the Louvre on this time. The tower was demolished in 1529 under the command of Francois I and the remains of buildings were concealed by new construction.

It was during the renovation of the palace in 1980 which led to the release of the rubble of the medieval Louvre. This part of the Louvre is one of the most important places that constitute it. The archaeological crypt shows a large number of elements constituting the castle in the Middle Ages. One can discover the wall of an outer slope of the ditch the ancient walls, the lower part of the old building based on these foundations, the mass of masonry arches that supported the drawbridge, the lower part belonging to twin towers of the old castle, the trench surrounding the tower and rampart wall measuring 2.60 meters thick.