Nouveau Louvre

Under the reign of Napoleon III, the Louvre Palace was expanded. Originally called the Nouveau Louvre, it was used for a variety of purposes, including housing, offices, and parts of the Louvre Museum. It influenced a style of architecture called Second Empire style, named after the Second French Empire. The building is now used entirely by the Louvre Museum.

Image 1: “Nouveau Louvre. Pavillon de la Bibliothèque Impériale, Parijs” by Édouard Denis Baldus (1856-1857). From the Rijksmuseum

Image 2: “Nouveau Louvre” by Édouard Denis Baldus (c. 1860). From the Philadelphia Museum of Art

Image 3: “Paris, Nouveau Louvre” (c. 1874). From the Art Institute of Chicago