La Cour Carrée

I walked through the Louvre's Cour Carrée (Square Court) on the way to the subway and back to my hotel. It was still Friday evening, on my first afternoon of the Paris weekend. I was scheduled to meet up with my friends at 8:30 pm, after their orientation meeting and group dinner. Their hotel was a few subway stops from mine.

The passage through the Pavillon de l'Horloge on the west side of the court leads into the Cour Napoléon and the famous glass pyramid that is the museum's "new" entrance.

My camera says that I took these two photos a few minutes after 7:00 pm. The sun was still shining brightly. Being as far north as it is, Paris has nice long days in summer. Conversely, the days are very short in the winter, but we won't think about that now.

The North and East Wings, with the Pavillon Marengo (left) that leads out to the rue de Rivoli not far from the Comédie Française theater.

The Cour Carrée was built on top of the ruins of the old medieval castle of the Louvre. Visitors to the museum can venture underground and view the restored foundations of the old castle, and we did that one year. The current buildings that enclose the Cour Carrée were built in stages between the 17th and 18th centuries. They make up just the eastern end of the sprawling Louvre complex.