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| The '''Louvre Pyramid''' (''Pyramide du Louvre'') is a large [[glass]] and metal [[pyramid]], surrounded by three smaller pyramids, in the main courtyard (''Cour Napoléon'') of the Louvre Palace (''[[Palais du Louvre]]'') in [[Paris]]. The large pyramid serves as the main entrance to the [[Musée du Louvre|Louvre Museum]]. Completed in 1989,<ref name="SimonsNYT">{{cite news|last=Simons|first=Marlise|title=5 Pieces of Europe's Past Return to Life: France; A vast new exhibition space as the Louvre renovates |work=New York Times|date=1993-03-28|url=http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9F0CEFDF1F39F93BA15750C0A965958260|accessdate=2008-10-07}}</ref> it has become a landmark of the city of [[Paris]].
| | Nice to meet you, my title is Numbers Held although I don't really like being called like that. Bookkeeping is her working day occupation now. One of the things she loves most is to study comics and she'll be beginning some thing else along with it. Years in the past we moved to North Dakota.<br><br>my web site :: [http://computerrepairredlands.com/solid-advice-terms-candida-albicans/ http://computerrepairredlands.com/] |
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| ==Design and construction==
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| [[File:Last Minute Vacations-Inside the Pyramid-Louvre museum.JPG|thumb|right|250px|Inside the Pyramid:the view of the Louvre Museum in Paris from the underground lobby of the Pyramid.]]
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| Commissioned by the President of France [[François Mitterrand]] in 1984, it was designed by the architect [[I. M. Pei]], who is responsible for the design of the [[Miho Museum]] in [[Japan]], the [[MasterCard Headquarters|MasterCard Corporate Office Building]] in [[Purchase, New York]], the [[Rock and Roll Hall of Fame Museum]] in [[Cleveland]], [[Place Ville Marie]] in [[Montreal]], and the [[National Gallery of Art]] (East Building) in [[Washington, D.C.]] among others. The structure, which was constructed entirely with glass segments, reaches a height of 21.6 metres (about 71 feet); its square base has sides of 35 metres (115 ft). It consists of 603 [[rhombus|rhombus-shaped]] and 70 triangular glass segments.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.glassonweb.com/articles/article/94 |title=Glass on the web |publisher=Glass on the web |date= |accessdate=2011-01-16}}</ref> The rigging holding the pyramid together was built by Navtec Rod Rigging of Littleton, MA under the direction of Ken King and his partner Mr. Eliason and the experienced design team of Navtec Rod Rigging. In 1989 TriPyramid Structures was formed to use Navtec Rod Rigging in architectural design and building. http://www.tripyramid.com/.
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| The pyramid structure was engineered by Nicolet Chartrand Knoll Ltd. of Montreal (Pyramid structure / Design Consultant) and [[RFR Engineers|Rice Francis Ritchie]] (also known as RFR) of Paris (Pyramid Structure / Construction Phase).<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.pcfandp.com/a/p/8315/s.html |title=Pei Cobb Freed & Partners |publisher=Pcfandp.com |date= |accessdate=2011-01-16}}</ref>
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| The pyramid and the underground lobby beneath it were created because of a series of problems with the Louvre's original main entrance, which could no longer handle the enormous number of visitors on an everyday basis. Visitors entering through the pyramid descend into the spacious lobby then re-ascend into the main Louvre buildings.
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| For design historian Mark Pimlott, "I.M. Pei’s plan distributes people effectively from the central concourse to myriad destinations within its vast subterranean network... the architectonic framework evokes, at gigantic scale, an ancient atrium of a Pompeiian villa; the treatment of the opening above, with its tracery of engineered castings and cables, evokes the atria of corporate office buildings; the busy movement of people from all directions suggests the concourses of rail termini or international airports."<ref name="Pimlott">Pimlott, Mark. (2007) [http://www.artdesigncafe.com/The-Grand-Louvre-I-M-Pei-Pimlott-2007 "The Grand Louvre & I.M. Pei"]. In <em>Without and within: Essays on territory and the interior</em> at artdesigncafe. (Episode Publishers: Rotterdam). Retrieved 2012-08-13.</ref>
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| Several other museums have duplicated this concept, most notably the [[Museum of Science and Industry (Chicago)|Museum of Science and Industry]] in [[Chicago]]. The [[Dolphin Centre]], featuring a similar pyramid, was opened in April 1982, by [[Prince Richard, Duke of Gloucester]].<ref>http://www.romford.org/sports/swimming/dolphin/dolphin01.htm</ref> The construction work on the pyramid base and underground lobby was carried out by the [[Vinci (construction)|Vinci]] construction company.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.vinci.com/vinci.nsf/en/history-sites.htm?OpenAgent&the_grand_louvre_museum |title=Vinci website: Louvre |publisher=Vinci.com |date= |accessdate=2011-01-16}}</ref>
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| [[File:Louvre Museum Wikimedia Commons.jpg|thumb|center|800px|The large glass pyramid seen at night]]
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| [[File:Paris July 2011-27a.jpg|thumb|center|800px|The large glass pyramid seen by day]]
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| == Controversy ==
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| [[Image:Museumfisheye.jpg|right|thumb|The entry lobby of the Louvre museum beneath the pyramid (taken with a [[Fisheye lens]] Nikkor 8mm)]]
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| The construction of the pyramid triggered considerable controversy because many people felt that the futuristic edifice looked quite out of place in front of the Louvre Museum with its classical architecture. Certain detractors ascribed a "Pharaonic complex" to Mitterrand. Others lauded the juxtaposition of contrasting architectural styles as a successful merger of the old and the new, the classical and the ultra-modern.
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| The main pyramid is actually the largest of several glass pyramids that were constructed near the museum, including the downward-pointing [[La Pyramide Inversée]] that functions as a skylight in an underground mall in front of the museum. During the design phase, there was a proposal that the design include a spire on the pyramid to simplify window washing. This proposal was eliminated because of objections from I. M. Pei. {{Citation needed|date=June 2007}}
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| == Urban legend of 666 panes ==
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| It has been claimed by some that the glass panes in the Louvre Pyramid number exactly 666, "the [[number of the beast]]", often associated with [[Satan]]. Dominique Stezepfandt's book ''François Mitterrand, Grand Architecte de l'Univers'' declares that "the pyramid is dedicated to a power described as the Beast in the [[Book of Revelation]] (...) The entire structure is based on the number 6."
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| The story of the 666 panes originated in the 1980s, when the official brochure published during construction did indeed cite this number (even twice, though a few pages earlier the total number of panes was given as 672 instead). The number 666 was also mentioned in various newspapers. The Louvre museum however states that the finished pyramid contains 673 glass panes (603 rhombi and 70 triangles).<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.glassonweb.com/articles/article/94 |title=Articles - Louvre Pyramid |publisher=Glass On Web |date= |accessdate=2011-01-16}}</ref> A higher figure was obtained by David A. Shugarts, who reports that the pyramid contains 689 pieces of glass.<ref>''Secrets of the Code'', edited by Dan Burstein, p. 259</ref> Shugarts obtained the figure from the offices of I. M. Pei.
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| Elementary math allows for easy counting of the panes: each of the three sides of the pyramid without an entrance has 18 triangular panes and 17 rows of rhombic ones arranged in a [[triangular number|triangle]], thus giving <math>\textstyle\frac{17\cdot(17+1)}{2}=153</math> rhombic panes (171 panes total). The side with the entrance, however, has 11 panes fewer (9 rhombic, 2 triangular), so the whole pyramid consists of <math>4\cdot153-9=603</math> rhombi and <math>4\cdot18-2=70</math> triangles, 673 panes total.
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| The myth resurfaced in 2003, when [[Dan Brown]] incorporated it in his best-selling novel ''[[The Da Vinci Code]]'', in which the protagonist reflects that "this pyramid, at President Mitterrand's explicit demand, had been constructed of exactly 666 panes of glass - a bizarre request that had always been a hot topic among conspiracy buffs who claimed 666 was the number of [[Satan]]".<ref>Dan Brown. ''The Da Vinci Code'', p. 21</ref> However, David A. Shugarts reports that according to a spokeswoman of the offices of I. M. Pei, the French President never specified the number of panes to be used in the pyramid. Noting how the 666 rumor circulated in some French newspapers in the mid-1980s, she commented: "If you only found those old articles and didn't do any deeper fact checking, and were extremely credulous, you might believe the 666 story".<ref>''Secrets of the Code'', p. 259</ref>
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| {{Comparison of pyramids.svg}}
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| ==La Pyramide Inversée==
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| {{Main|La Pyramide Inversée}}
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| La Pyramide Inversée (The Inverted Pyramid) is a skylight in the Carrousel du Louvre shopping mall in front of the Louvre Museum. It looks like an upside-down and smaller version of the Louvre Pyramid.
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| ==References==
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| {{Reflist}}
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| == External links ==
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| {{Portal|Paris}}
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| {{Commons category|Louvre Pyramid}}
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| *[http://www.greatbuildings.com/buildings/Pyramide_du_Louvre.html Great buildings]
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| {{Louvre}}
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| {{Grands Projets of François Mitterrand}}
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| {{Coord|48.860854|2.335812|type:landmark_region:FR-75|display=title}}
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| [[Category:Buildings and structures completed in 1989]]
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| [[Category:Buildings and structures in Paris]]
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| [[Category:Egyptian Revival architecture]]
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| [[Category:European pyramids]]
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| [[Category:Louvre Palace]]
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| [[Category:Art gallery districts]]
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| [[Category:I. M. Pei buildings]]
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| [[Category:Urban legends]]
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| [[Category:Lattice shell structures]]
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Nice to meet you, my title is Numbers Held although I don't really like being called like that. Bookkeeping is her working day occupation now. One of the things she loves most is to study comics and she'll be beginning some thing else along with it. Years in the past we moved to North Dakota.
my web site :: http://computerrepairredlands.com/