The defenders of the Louvre

The defenders of the Louvre

During my childhood, one entered the Louvre by the Denon entrance, on the ground floor of the pavilion of the same name (Denon, room 404). Sometimes, we quickly crossed the Galerie Daru, leapt up the cold, monumental stairway of the Victory of Samothrace, and immediately veered into the Grande Galerie. Or else we continued along the ground floor, headed towards the Venus de Milo, and descended into the Crypt of the Sphynx. But in the Denon entry hall, at the threshold of the Galerie Daru lined with Roman sculptures (Denon, room 406), we never failed to pause for a moment before the marble plaque honoring a few heroes without whom the Louvre would no longer exist. We knew the Tuileries Palace—the emperor’s residence, symbol of power—had been burned to the ground during the Commune, and the Louvre had just barely been spared. Can you imagine? The Mona Lisa would have gone up in flames; Titian’s Pastoral Concert too (it was attributed to Giorgione at the time, but that would not have saved it). Henri Barbet de Jouy, the museum’s curator, defended its collections inch by inch. Commandant de Bernardy de Sigoyer met his death while leading his foot soldiers to save the masterpieces of the Louvre. One no longer enters the Louvre through the Denon pavilion, but it would be fitting for all visitors to pause, along their way, before these names of the defenders of the Louvre.