Pyramid

Here's another old favorite: the glass pyramid at the Louvre. I've posted this photo before in a much smaller format. So here it is again, larger and, I hope, better.

The pyramid entrance to the Louvre by world renown architect I. M. Pei. Digitized color slide, Paris 1988.

The pyramid marks the entrance to the Louvre museum, something that was seriously lacking before its construction. Visitors to the museum had to navigate a parking lot (France's Ministry of Finance used to be located in the building) to get inside. The entrance was neither obvious nor elegant. All of that changed when the Finance folks moved to a new building (by order of then-President François Mitterrand) and the parking lot became a courtyard for pedestrians. 

The Louvre Palace has always been a work in progress. From its early days as a medieval castle (vistors can see the foundations in the museum's lower levels) to its expansion under various kings through the Renaissance, its abandonment as the royal residence with the building of Versailles under Louis XIV, the destruction by fire of the Tuileries wing during the uprising of 1871, and now with improvement and expansion through the modern era, the palace continues to evolve and inspire.